The Abyssal Maw
by Xenopsyche
Summary: After the harrowing crash onto the Collector Base, the real fight begins for the crew of the Normandy. My take on the ever-popular Suicide Mission. Rated M for violence and gore, because mass accelerator wounds wouldn't be pretty.
1. The Jaws of Death

******Disclaimer:**** **I do not own or make any claim to the Mass Effect universe or the characters contained in this story, all of which are owned by BioWare and Electronic Arts. This is simply my interpretation of some events within the game universe.

**[AN: Welcome to my variation of the Suicide Mission, because, you know, there weren't enough of them already...**

**Anyway, this one is part of the same continuity as all my other ME fics and it will largely stick to canon, though there are a couple of minor differences:**

**\- The Collector forces are a mix of the ME2 form and ME3 version, basically taking the best form both and combining them here.**

**\- Many of the squad have different armours; Miranda gets a set of Inferno armour, Jacob has Cerberus Assault Armour, Jack, Thane and Samara all get vacuum proof armours, Kasumi has a set of Alliance 'Shadow' class armour on beneath her usual attire, Tali has her ME2 Alternate Appearance armour, but in her usual colours and Garrus get's the incredibly awesome Terminus armour set from the ME3 Alt appearance pack.**

**\- The giant T-100 will be changed to something a bit more 'Reaper-y'.**

**So that's the changes, and now that you're aware of them, I hope you enjoy the first chapter. /AN]**

* * *

**_Normandy _****SR-2, Position Unknown (February 23, 2186, 1600 hours, Ship Time):**

All of the ground team had assembled in the briefing room and were variously standing, sitting or resting against the wall. They were decked out in their usual combat gear, and then some.

No one had expected this mission would be easy, and the space-born part of the approach certainly delivered; hairpin manoeuvres, deadly astrophysical phenomenon and a technological marvel pushed to- and beyond- it's limits. Now they were itching to get out there and fight on _their_ terms.

The rhythmic beat of the Commander's boots reverberating through the room alerted its occupants to his imminent arrival and they all tensed expectantly, waiting for their orders as he strode into the room and took his position at the head of the meeting table.

"Well, we're here. We can't worry if the _Normandy_ can get us home or not; we all knew this was probably going to be a one way mission when we signed on, and right now all we need to worry about is how to remove this base from existence. EDI, if you'd please."

A holographic form of the Collector Base sprung into being above the table. Shepard began manipulating the image, stripping away layers and marking points.

"All of the energy signatures seem to be clustered around here," he said, pointing to a large glowing section of the station set in a large central chamber that appeared to run the length of the station for at least two kilometres. "So that's where we need to go if we're going to overload the core and blow it sky high."

"Shepard-Commander, insufficient data is available to determine if a core overload will have sufficient yield to completely destroy this installation," Legion stated, head-flaps whirring as it processed the new information.

"It might not, but if we can knock out the core, then it won't be able to generate the mass effect fields to keep it in a safe orbit around the black hole."

"Like the dead Reaper," Jacob said, nodding in understanding.

"Exactly, blow the core and whatever's left falls into the black hole," Shepard smiled darkly, cold rage tempering the steel in his voice. "Now all that's left is to get there."

Garrus spoke up first.

"It looks like there are two main paths, but they both hit bulkheads before they reach the Central Chamber and I don't like our chances of getting through those in a timely manner."

"A single individual could enter this ventilation shaft; it runs parallel to the other paths and opens up beyond the bulkheads." Thane proffered, he himself not being a stranger to utilising unconventional entry points for infiltration.

"Practically a suicide mission; I volunteer," Jacob said, no trace of apprehension in his voice.

"A nice sentiment, but you don't have the technical skill to override the security systems in time. Shepard, you need a tech expert to get those doors open," Miranda stated as she too mulled over the puzzle that the base provided.

Shepard had drawn a similar conclusion and had a plan was rapidly taking form in his mind.

"Alright, we break up into two teams, one down each path to keep the Collector's off balance and distracted until we can get the doors open. Tali, I need you on this," he said, ignoring the urge to grind his teeth in agitation at the thought.

Though he hated to send her on such a dangerous assignment, he also knew that she was the best choice. She had the most experience with Collector systems and her environmental suit would give her some degree of protection from the heat being vented, whereas Kasumi and Legion would be at a comparative disadvantage.

Tali stood up slightly straighter and nodded emphatically.

"I won't let you down."

Shepard smiled behind his polarised visor and returned the gesture.

"I know. I'll take a smaller team down the right-hand passage; Legion, Thane, Jacob, you're with me. The rest of you will take the left-hand path. Garrus, you've got command of that team."

A single nod from the black-armoured Turian answered him. Turning his attention back to his team at large, he surveyed them quickly; they were ready.

"Alright, you all know the score. The Collectors have taken thousands of people, hundreds of thousands; and now we're here to make sure of one fact: Not. One. More."

Grunt slammed his fists together in anticipation while nods and salutes answered for the rest of the crew.

"Grab the rest of gear and be ready to move in twenty. Take as many clips as you can carry and if you think you're going to use it, grab it; no sense in going light on this mission."

* * *

No one on the team could be accused of skimping on fire power as they assembled in the battered cargo hold.

Jacob had a Katana shotgun, Phalanx pistol and a proto-type automatic variant of the Mattock, which he had quickly dubbed the auto-mattock, as well as sporting an M-77 Missile Launcher on his back.

Legion was carrying its immense Widow rifle, a Geth pulse rifle, a plasma SMG and it had even grabbed a spare plasma shotgun.

Thane's load out was little different from usual, with his Viper and Tempest, but he also had a Phalanx attached to a holster on his thigh.

For his part, Shepard had his Scimitar and Phalanx but had switched out his usual Vindicator for an Avenger and picked up a Hurricane SMG for good measure. He had also opted to take the Cain, much to Grunt's joy, on the basis that if there would ever be a time that he would need it, it would be now.

The other members of the team were similarly heavily armed and were also dripping with thermal clips; there would likely be none to be found on the base. Once they were all assembled, both teams split off to move to their separate entry points where they would breach the corridors on Shepard's mark. The ventilation shaft was nearby Shepard's entry point so Tali accompanied his team on the way there, hanging back slightly so she could talk to Shepard alone.

They walked side by side, neither sure of what to say. It was Shepard who spoke first, turning to face her.

"I'm sorry I asked you to do this, but…"

She stopped walking and grabbed his hands, giving them a reassuring squeeze.

"Don't be, I'm the best option and you know it. Kasumi couldn't last long enough with to the heat and you need Legion's firepower, plus that hole must impact his heat dispersal systems."

"I'm not talking about the vents; I'm talking about all of this. You deserve better than a Suicide Mission to the Galactic Core, hell everyone here deserves better than this. I'm sorry for dragging you into this; if I had never let you join me back on the first _Normandy_-"

Tali interrupted him sharply, her voice a mix of frustration, exasperation and conviction.

"Then I may never have completed my Pilgrimage, or I might have been dead on Freedom's Progress, or dead on Haestrom, or perhaps I'd be dead because you never stopped Saren and the Reapers would be harvesting the Galaxy right now… and I would never of had the chance to be with you. _I_ asked to join the original _Normandy_ and I _wanted_ to join you on this mission. I'm with you, by your side, whatever happens, because that's where I _want_ to be."

Smiling at the determination behind her words, Shepard stepped closer to her and pressed his helmet against her visor.

"Alright, just… be safe."

"I will. I know you will get us all out of here, safely; it's what you do," she stated softly, locking eyes with him as they parted their embrace.

Shepard's smile was sadder now but no less genuine. He wasn't sure what would happen on this mission but he knew that fatalities were all too likely. Still, her confidence in him was a much needed boost.

"Thanks Tali. See you soon," he said as they parted ways before the assault began.

* * *

"Legion! Take out that Scion!" Shepard shouted, throwing himself into a roll to avoid the pulsing biotic field directed towards his previous cover.

He was answered by the thunderous boom of Legion's Widow and the sight of the Scion's integrated cannon being blown in half as the oversized tungsten round tore through it, then its skull and finally ended in a deep crater in the far wall. The giant monstrosity let out an unintelligible bellow as it crashed to the floor.

"Threat neutralised."

Thane put down the last couple of Collectors in the room with his usual calm precision as his Viper chirped twice and two Collector skull's exploded as the rounds fragmented inside and ripped them apart.

They were making good progress towards the central chamber, but the Collectors had quickly worked out what they were doing and had thrown everything short of a Reaper at them. Garrus reported that a similar situation was facing Team two but they were also making good progress.

Shepard's main concern was if they realised what Tali was doing; he doubted they had sensors inside their ventilation system when the air was over 200oC, but if they discovered her, she wouldn't be in a position to fight back, or they may find a way to trap her in there until the heat killed her. So far she had been shadowing Shepard's team in an effort to stay out of the Collector's sight, but he didn't know how long that would last, or how long her suit could cope with the heat.

Pushing the thoughts from his head he focused on picking his way across the uneven surface of the base and scanning for hostiles. They were coming up to a large cavern with more of the uneven terraces leading down towards another narrow hallway.

Thane heard them coming first and at his warning they dropped into position, waiting for the Collectors to make their appearance. Soon the buzzing of their wings filled the cavern and the first trio landed.

One was greeted by a round fragmenting inside its skull, the second was met with a quick burst to its upper torso and head from Jacob's 'Auto-Mattock' while the third was bifurcated at the waist, courtesy of Legion's rifle.

The Collectors were quick to react and changed their approach to land behind cover. Jacob managed to knock a pair of them out of flight with a biotic throw, and it sent them into a nearby wall with enough force that the crunching of their exo-skeletal armour could be heard on the other side of the room.

That left five on the other side of the room; easy pickings for Shepard's team.

Shepard and Jacob began to move up while Thane and Legion covered their advance. Shepard had switched to his Hurricane as he approached the partial wall that the Collector's were taking cover behind. He motioned for Jacob to hang back as he came up short of the wall.

Something wasn't right here. The Collector's had always attacked relentlessly, down to the last drone; it wasn't like them to sit and wait and the last thing he was going to do was charge in blindly.

"Legion, can your rifle punch through this wall?" He asked.

"Yes, the wall is composed primarily of an artificial crystalline resin. This weapon is capable of penetrating approximately 126.3 centimetres of this material and still retain the necessary velocity to terminate a target, but we lack the capacity to determine the location of the hostile forces," it replied.

"What about your combat drone?"

The Geth's head flaps wiggled in understanding as it processed the question and strategy being implied. After a brief silence it replied, already anticipating what he was going to ask next.

"Combat Drone is ready, we will proceed on your mark."

"Do it."

Legion's combat drone flickered into life in front of it and made its way to the wall in front of Shepard before rounding the corner and discharging its stun weapon into the nearest Collector. The cannon-like roar of the Widow came immediately after as Legion determined the position of all of the Collectors behind the wall from the drone's video feed.

The first round punched clean through the wall and a spray of orange ichor, along with the surprised warbling of the remaining Collectors indicated he had scored a hit. The second round followed two seconds later and the same spray of orange blood erupted but it was quickly obscured by the explosion that followed. One of the remaining Collectors was blasted off the edge of the cavern as the explosion hurled it out from behind the wall. The already weakened wall came apart and chunks were hurled across the cavern while the overpressure wave was enough to knock Shepard over, even shielded as he was by the terrace in front of him.

As the dust cleared it was obvious that the blast had killed the remaining Collectors, and Thane and Legion quickly made their way towards the blast zone.

"Shepard! Shepard! Are you alright?" Tali's frantic voice came over his private comm as he roused himself from the rubble, noticing a new dent on his breastplate where the armour had stopped a piece of flying rubble.

"I'm fine Tali, just a little explosion."

"Just a little expl-!" She said in exasperation before cutting herself off. "Fine, but we'll talk about his later."

"Yes, we will, don't forget that."

He could hear her sigh and take a moment to compose herself.

"Okay, you're right. I'm moving on to the next section, only a couple more to go after that, then I can open the doors," her voice was much calmer again, focused on the mission.

"Good, how's the heat?"He asked, his own concern for her safety now colouring his voice.

"It's hot, really hot, but the suit is still able to handle it. I can already feel it starting to seep through, though."

"Okay, we'll try and pick up the pace a bit."

Turning his attention back to his team that had made their way over to him he heard Jacob ask the question they had all been wondering about.

"Ah, what the hell was that?"

"Hypothesis: Drone Collector was carrying a high yield explosive device set to detonate upon that unit's termination," Legion's synthesised voice intoned.

"A Dead Man's Switch. They were expecting one of us to come rushing around the corner and then cause the bomb to go off," Shepard elaborated, nodding in agreement with Legion's assessment; it certainly fit the evidence.

Moving on through the hallway they reached another chamber, even larger than the previous one, ceiling vaulted high and dripping with resinous stalactites.

An inhuman moaning echoed through the cavern as husks and abominations began to crawl up the sides of the ledges and across the walls in an attempt to reach the intruders.

Shepard whipped up his Phalanx and drew a bead on the nearest husk, putting a trio of rounds centre of mass and letting the thermite mixed into the ammo block ignite and wreath the cybernetic monstrosity in flame. It fell to the ground, its grating scream reverberating throughout the cavern as still more husks approached.

The team fell into position and began picking off the husks with precision, not giving way to the panic and fear that would likely have overwhelmed a normal squad of soldiers.

The air was filled with the whine of Legion's plasma SMG and punctuated occasionally by the booming of Shepard's Phalanx and Jacob's Katana and the dull whisper of Thane's suppressed Viper.

One husk snuck up behind Legion and was about to lunge at the Geth when the mobile platform caught it's skull mid motion and plasma cascaded down its arm, thoroughly erasing the husk from existence, all while keeping its SMG trained on the husks in front of it. Thane dealt with another via a biotically assisted open palm strike to the sternum that shattered the husk's cybernetically reinforced ribs and sent it careening into those behind it before smoothly stowing his Viper and unleashing an extended burst from his Tempest.

The team was quickly pushing back the husk assault when the buzzing of wings was heard in the distance, followed quickly by their owners. The Collectors dropped onto the terraces on the opposite side of the cavern and immediately opened fire on the exposed group.

All four of them quickly slid into the nearest cover they could find, relying on their shields to take the brunt of any fire in the interim. Shepard reached cover just as he saw the amber beam of a Collector particle weapon carve a clean line in the ground where he was standing less than a second ago. Quickly extending his Avenger, he re-holstered his Phalanx and readied his rifle, snapping over cover to fire a quick suppressing burst and check on the location of the remaining husks; they were much closer than he'd have liked.

Then, because things weren't going well enough already, an ominous and sickeningly familiar glow surrounded one of the Collectors as it became an avatar of Harbinger.

"**_I will direct this personally,_**" the Reaper's voice bellowed, reverberating through the cavernous room.

Shepard had to think fast. The husks were nearly on top of him and he couldn't get out from cover to fight them while Harbinger and the sniper were still active. But this was why he had a team.

"Thane, take out that sniper! Jacob, focus fire on Harbinger and when his barriers are down, take him out, Legion! I'll deal with the husks and remaining drones."

He knew it would be at least ten seconds until both targets could be taken out, and it would be less than three before the husks reached his position, but that wasn't going to be a problem.

Stowing his Avenger while drawing his Scimitar, he dived out from cover as the first husks leapt over the low terrace. He focused on the collector drone at the back of the formation and half-a-second later he had slammed into the unfortunate drone with enough force to shatter its spinal column before bringing his assault shotgun to bear on the two drones closest to him; they were both quickly cut down by the hail of incendiary shotgun pellets shredding their armoured chests.

"**_Stop Shepard!_**" Harbinger's avatar growled at the human that dared defy him. Having them focus on him was all part of Shepard's plan, however, as it freed up his squadmates to take out their targets.

The sniper brought its particle rifle to bear on Shepard and the weapons immense damage output quickly chewed away at his barrier levels. A round impacting it's barriers from behind staggered the Collector, straight towards the oncoming form of Shepard, who unleashed a pair of shots from his shotgun to completely drop its barrier. The rounds had enough force to cut deeply into its left shoulder and spin it around, just in time to have Thane put a round between its two left eyes.

With the sniper taken care of and Harbinger preoccupied with Jacob's assault, the Commander could turn his attention to the remaining husks, seven in all. They were clambering their way towards his squad's position, having given up on chasing him. Once again he charged into the husk towards the rear of the group and proceeded from there.

The targeted husk was turned into a ragdoll by the impact and crumpled in a heap at the base of one of the rock pillars dotted around the room. The next had the better part of its abdominal cavity excised by a blast from his shotgun while another two fell from the next blast. He was vaguely aware of Legion firing another round from its rifle, causing the Harbinger avatar to collapse into ash.

Stowing his shotgun instead of pausing to expel the clip, he slammed a biotically powered fist into the side of the fifth husk's emaciated skull, instantly severing its spinal cord and whatever tech the Reapers had implanted. By now the remaining two husks had turned their attention back to him, but he had already anticipated this. Clenching his right fist, his omni-blade rapidly fabricated, extending to its full two foot length and locking in place. With a thrust it impaled the husk in front of Shepard through the clavicle and on through the remnants of the heart, then the spine. Quickly withdrawing the blade, he thrust it backward as the blade re-aligned itself on his arm, extending out beyond his elbow and catching the final husk underneath the jaw, the bone offering little resistance to the monomolecular blade as it pierced the through the top of the creature's skull.

A single shot signalled an end to the fighting in that room as Shepard put a round into the head of the paralysed husk standing in front of him, before re-holstering his Phalanx and discarding the flash forged omni-blade and allowing the still impaled husk to fall to the ground, the blade shattering on impact with the crystalline floor.

"Come on, let's keep moving, the Central Chamber isn't far," he ordered said, before breaking into a jog in order to reach the next room.

This time the Collectors were waiting for them, Harbinger standing at the front of at least twenty. The Collectors opened fire as soon as they saw Shepard crest the rise and Harbinger generated a singularity in front of his path in an attempt to slow him down, but Shepard wasn't planning on waiting.

Instead of advancing through the Collectors overlapping fields of fire, he simply bypassed them, slamming into the Captain near the back of the wall and putting a burst from his rifle through its skull as insurance. The other members of his squad took up positions and began picking the now distracted Collectors off while Shepard advanced into their ranks, ducking and weaving his way between the pillars and terraces that acted as cover in the convoluted landscape while firing bursts from his weapons into them, switching as the thermal clips reached capacity.

A combination of a biotic throws, omni-blades and fire from his weapons had brought down Harbinger and all but three of the remaining Collectors when Tali's voice erupted over his comms.

"Shepard! I'm trapped. They sealed the passage in front of me with a grate and used a bulkhead to shut the path behind me. The heat- Keelah, it's hot in here! I don't know how long my suit can hold out," she panted, her voice laboured with the heat already taking its toll on her body.

"Shepard Commander, we can access the nearby console and override Collector security protocols."

"Do it, we'll cover you!" he shouted as Legion dashed towards the nearby outcrop.

"Understood, bypass will take approximately 23.4 seconds. Initialising."

"The grate should be down shortly Tali, just hold on," he said in a rather vain attempt to reassure her.

Legion still needed fifteen more seconds when dual lances of blue-white energy raced towards it, carving a path across the floor and threatening to destroy both it and the delicate console.

Seeing what was about to happen, Shepard summoned a barrier around himself as he charged the source of the attack, a Praetorian that had just landed on the edge of the cavern, in the hopes of knocking of its aim enough to allow Legion to finish the bypass.

It worked, the Praetorian's attack went wide of its mark, but now Shepard had to deal with five tonnes of living assault platform bearing down on him with little room to manoeuvre.

The Praetorian screeched and began stabbing its wickedly sharp front limbs towards him as he dove underneath the Praetorian's legs and scrambled out the other side before it could crush him with its heavily armoured carapace. Firing his Hurricane until the clip reached capacity, Shepard continued to draw the massive construct away from the rest of the squad, all of their rounds being easily absorbed by the Praetorian's immensely powerful barrier as it rose above the terrain and made a beeline for Shepard as he alternated between carefully picking his way across the ground and firing up at the looming behemoth. Jacob managed to get its attention by hitting it with a trio of missiles, giving Shepard the opportunity he needed to slip past the Praetorian and move back into open space.

"Shepard, the grate's open, I'm continuing forward," Tali's voice came over his comm again, her breathing was shallow but the relief in her voice was clear.

"Good…get the door open…for Team two…we shouldn't…be far behind," he replied in between bursts of fire.

Now that Legion was adding it's fire to the Praetorian, its barriers eventually failed and rounds began impacting its armour, causing it to fire off another salvo with its twin particle beams before it suddenly collapsed on the ground, legs tucked tightly under its body.

The squad stopped firing, unsure of what to make of this.

Before any of them could speak, though, the Praetorian began to shudder violently as golden fire spread across its steely carapace. This coincided with the audible buzzing of Collector wings and the telltale groans of husks as they approached the cavern.

The Praetorian sprung into the air as a chilling voice reverberated throughout the room.

"**_We are assuming direct control of this form,_**" Harbinger's voice boomed from the now possessed Praetorian.

Knowing that there was only one option open to him, Shepard ordered a tactical withdrawal.

"Run! Get to the doors!" He shouted to the other three members of his squad as he fired back at the now rapidly approaching horde. They barrelled through the final hallway until they reached the main doors that led to the Central Chamber.

"Tali, we're about to reach the door and we've got a lot of hostiles coming our way."

"The door is unlocked and Garrus and the rest of Team Two are already in position to provide covering fire," she assured him.

"Okay, we're coming in hot, ETA 10 seconds."

The sound of muffled gunfire and explosives could be heard by the rest of the squad waiting behind the blast doors as they waited for them to open. Sure enough, ten seconds later the doors began to part and Thane, followed by Jacob dove through the widening gap with Legion and finally Shepard following soon after. They joined the rest of the squad at the door and added their fire to it, cutting down the Collector forces as they approached.

"Tali, get the door closed and seal it, as secure as you can make it," Tali remained concentrated on her work, fingers tapping furiously on her omni-tool and the haptic interface of the door control as the doors began to slide slowly shut.

Shepard could see the Harbinger controlled Praetorian at the end of the hallway, its 'eyes' glowing with blue-white fire as it prepared to fire it's dual particle beams. But instead of the predicted beams of hyper accelerated sub-atomic particles, a salvo of rockets was released from pods lying dormant until now under its external armour.

The rockets traced bizarre spiralling patterns through the air as they sped towards the doorway. Everyone hit the deck as they saw the incoming barrage and most of the missile either exploded harmlessly against the now mostly closed door or sailed overhead, impacting the far wall. Jacob moved too slowly however, and a rocket caught him in the side which overwhelmed his kinetic barriers and cracked the armour beneath, but didn't penetrate.

The door sealed shut with a dull thud and Tali typed a final flurry of commands into her omni-tool, effectively securing the door against anything short of it being blown apart.

Breathing heavily from the exertion of the last half an hour, John turned to Jacob to find that Mordin was already running scans and injecting painkillers and antiseptics around the wound site. The white ceramic of his armour was charred and cracked but otherwise he didn't look any worse for wear, though there was a good chance he would have a broken rib or four and some burns around the wound site.

"Look Doc, I'm fine. The armour will hold me together long enough to get this mission done. Why don't you go treat someone else?" Jacob said with a grimace as Mordin administered a final cocktail of drugs via injection ports near the wound site.

"All other injuries treated. Received similar response from most of ground team," the Salarian huffed with indignation. "Wait! Tali'Zorah refused treatment until both teams accounted for…" he started as he stood up and moved towards the Quarian engineer still fiddling with the door controls.

"You alright?" Shepard asked as he approached the prone Cerberus soldier.

"I'm good, Shepard, ready for action; just help me up," he replied with determination as he tried to hide the wince of pain while Shepard helped him to his feet. The Commander clapped him on the shoulder and nodded before moving on to see Garrus while Mordin tried to treat Tali.

"Good to see everyone made it out in one piece, any major injuries or problems?"

"Just the usual minor scrapes, bruises, burns from Collector particle rifles. Mordin's patched everyone up and we're ready to move," Garrus said with a forced smirk.

Shepard saw right through it, however. The effect of the pressure of having people under his command again was all too obvious to his closest friend, but he needed Garrus if they were going to get through this.

"You did a good job Garrus; I knew you could get them through."

"I know, and thanks for trusting in me… even when I didn't," Garrus replied, the forced levity largely gone from his voice, but that wasn't a bad thing as far as John was concerned.

"What are friends for?" The Commander said sincerely before giving him one more meaningful nod and moving over to Tali while Mordin tried (with limited success) to get her to submit to treatment.

"Must insist upon running basic medical scans. Telemetry from suit shows marked increase in core temperature and signs of thermal shock. Already running a fever, may have resulted in complications. Must be treated immediately!" Mordin said, his tone sounding more urgent than usual.

"Hmph, fine…" she relented as she slumped back against the wall and let out an exhausted sigh and a small sniffle. She shot back to alertness when she realised Shepard was approaching.

"Oh! Hey Shepard."

"Nice work Tali, I knew I could count on you. Say, what happened to your hood?" He asked as he noticed charred and discoloured patches all across the purple fabric that adorned her suit.

"Oh, that. The fabric sort of caught fire when I was stuck behind that grate, and it was even a fire retardant fabric!"

"But you're okay, right?" He asked, not even attempting to mask the concern in his voice.

"Yes, I'm fine! Like I keep trying to tell Mordin, my suit is very good at keeping me healthy and I haven't received any punctures yet."

"Still, need to run tests. No sense in avoiding simple medical procedure that could save life, even on Suicide Mission," Mordin interrupted.

Before the debate could continue, Miranda's voice came over everyone's comm.

_"Shepard, you need to see this..."_

* * *

**[AN: And there you have it, chapter one of three down. **

**I'd love to know what you think, as I have had limited feedback relating to my combat writing and there's also a lot of characters to deal with, so please point out any inconsistencies.**

**Thanks again for taking the time to read./AN]**


	2. Whispers in the Dark

******Disclaimer:**** **I do not own or make any claim to the Mass Effect universe or the characters contained in this story, all of which are owned by BioWare and Electronic Arts. This is simply my interpretation of some events within the game universe.

**[AN: Welcome back to the Second chapter!**

**I apologise for how long it has been since I first posted this story, it was not my intent to leave it this long without an update, in fact I had intended to have it finished by now, but life rarely works the way we want it to. So I apologise and I intend to have the final chapter up soon, but I won't make a promise I can't guarantee I can keep.**

**Anyway, on with the story./AN]**

* * *

Miranda had gone ahead to recon the next section, along with Zaeed, Grunt and Kasumi, but what they found took even her breath away.

They were standing on the edge of the central chamber and the scans on the _Normandy_ did not do it justice. The cavern was easily a kilometre from side to side and even with her combat visor's visual enhancements, she couldn't make out either of the far ends of the space. Thick tubes made of a strange translucent crystal ran the length and breadth of the Chamber and energy rippled along the crystalline lattice and the outer surface of the cavern, illuminating it with a rhythmically pulsing glow, adding to the already disconcertingly organic feel of the base.

But what really captivated her were the thousands upon thousands of pods that lined every wall and every surface for as far as the eye could see. She had seen pods on the Collector Ship in person but there were many, _many_ more here.

"Well I'll be damned…" Zaeed muttered under his breath as he took in the sight, a hint of awe breaking through his jaded personality.

"Shepard, you need to see this…" Miranda said into her radio, moving to investigate one of the nearby pods as she did.

She wiped away the condensation that had gathered over the crystalline lid and came face to face with a human, asleep but not in stasis. She was wearing rugged civilian clothing common to those who lived on start-up colony worlds and it didn't take long for her to realise that these were some of the missing colonists.

The colonist stirred as light began to filter into her cocoon, her head twisting a turning fitfully as her eyes slowly began to focus. A muffled scream indicated the moment that she realised her predicament and Miranda was back in front of the canopy in an instant in an attempt to calm her down.

Contrary to her intention however, her appearance just made the young woman struggle harder, pounding desperately on the lid, to little effect.

The crunching sound of combat boots drew Miranda's attention away from the panicking woman and towards its source as Shepard rushed into the cavern.

"Shepard! There are people still alive in these pods!"

"Get them out of there!" He shouted to the four individuals standing in front of him before he activated his radio to the rest of the team.

"Everyone, we've got survivors, double time it over here," he yelled into the comm and moved to the nearest pod. He arrived just in time to see what was left of a man in a Cerberus uniform be liquefied and drained from the pod, crimson gore slowly sliding down it's translucent, crystalline surface.

Frantically moving to the next pod, he smashed through the lid with a biotically enhanced strike and tore the rest of the lid free. Catching the occupant, an elderly colonist by appearance, he lowered him to the ground and dashed to the next one in the line.

By now the rest of the squad had arrived and began breaking open the pods with biotics, knives, omni-blades, gun stocks and, in Grunt's case, foreheads. In three minutes they had cleared all of the pods along their stretch of walkway and managed to recover more than three quarters of the _Normandy's_ abducted crew and twenty two colonists, the rest must either have been in another area or already dead; the latter more likely given the number of empty pods.

It was in one of the last pods that they found Dr Chakwas, barely conscious and eyes glazed over, whether from the stasis or shock, he wasn't sure.

"Shepard, you came for us," she murmured, half statement and half question.

"I don't leave my crew behind. I just wish I could have got here sooner, some of them won't be joining us again," he grimaced as his mind flashed back to the image of the liquefied crewman with the remains of the Cerberus logo just barely visible on his slowly dissolving shoulder.

"I don't doubt you got here as quickly as you could. How many did we lose?" She asked, her voice stronger and eyes clearer as she slowly regained her strength and wits.

"It looks like we're missing fourteen, almost a quarter of the crew."

Chakwas could only nod vaguely for a moment, before speaking again.

"I saw what the Collectors did to them; swarms of nanites broke down their bodies and pumped them through those tubes; while they were still alive. I think they started with the most critically wounded first; poor Phillips..." she began murmuring again, her words losing coherency as her own memories of the horrors she had seen flashed to the forefront of her mind again.

Helping to steady her, they carefully made their way over to the rest of the group.

* * *

Falling back to the more defensible hallway, Mordin and Miranda began to assess the recovered crew and colonists. Most of the crew had been recovered, including almost all of the senior staff; it looked like the security detail was the hardest hit with two thirds of their number missing.

The colonists were a different story, there was barely 20 of them, from a variety of colonies. About half were from Ferris Fields, and there were even a couple from Horizon, but the rest came from half-a-dozen small colonies in the traverse whose names were only familiar because of the regular briefings Miranda had provided for him. All in all, considering the tens of thousands of colonists taken, 23 survivors was so small a number, that it was almost irrelevant.

The worst part was not knowing if there were even more colonists in the other pods. There could well be over a million pods in that chamber, it was that immense, and it was a good bet that many of the others were filled with captured men, women and children.

Still, even if there were others, they couldn't save them, and though it tore at the very fibre of his being to admit that, it was true.

It would take weeks to search every pod, and even if they did find more survivors, the _Normandy_ was in no shape to take on possibly hundreds of refugees; between the damage of the fight and the crash landing, along with the distinct lack of supplies, it would be struggling with its current crew compliment.

Perhaps it was really better not to know if there was anyone else in those pods when it came time to destroy the station…

Clearing his head of those dark thoughts, he turned his attention back to securing those they could save.

"Joker, this is Shepard. We've found most of the crew and some of the surviving colonists, how's the _Normandy_ looking?"

"We've got enough systems online to make a pickup, but the nearest docking port is back from your position," the pilot's voice crackled over the squad's comms, just barely audible beneath the heavy static and interference caused by the thick wall of the Base and the radiation being thrown off by the Black Hole.

"Shepard, we can't afford to go back, any time we waste will give the Collector's even more time to prepare," Miranda stated, "besides, both routes we took were swarming with Collectors and Tali sealed the doors completely."

"The path to the docking port is entirely separate from either path Operative Lawson, but it would still be a significant detour," EDI' replied.

"We can't exactly take them with us either, and I'm not leaving them to face the Collectors alone. Joker, get the _Normandy_ into position, I'm sending the crew to you. Mordin, I need you to get the crew and the colonists back to the _Normandy_. Jacob, you go with them as well; you're injured and will be more helpful with them. Take what clips you'll need and distribute the rest amongst the rest of the squad, and Jacob, give Garrus your launcher. Miranda, you're now the squad's medic. Everyone else, if you've got a weapon you can spare, share them around between the security personnel."

Jacob began to protest but recognised the wisdom of Shepard's decision. Mordin nodded and started liaising with Joker over the comm as he began to remove excess thermal clips and pass them around as Jacob did the same. Five minutes later, the entire group had disappeared into one of the nearby tunnels and Shepard was once again left alone with his squad.

Tali projected the same holo-frame image of the Collector Base in front of the group as Shepard once again began devising a plan.

"It looks like the paths diverge again and there're no bulkheads this time, but the left hand path is much shorter, less than 500 metres. I say we just rush through before-"

"That would be inadvisable, Commander," EDI interrupted. "Subsequent scans show an extremely high concentration of Seeker Swarms in that chamber; Professor Solus' countermeasures would be ineffective against that many of them."

"And something tells me all of us just taking the other route wouldn't be nearly as easy as it sounds," Garrus noted dryly.

"It's what they're expecting us to do, and it would let them focus everything they have on us," Shepard agreed. "We need to split up and divide their forces, one team to trigger the trap and the other to catch the Collector's from behind. But to do that we need a way through those swarms; any suggestions?"

"It may be possible to create a biotic field of sufficient strength to repel the Seeker Swarms, however the process would be taxing and only a small group could be effectively protected," Samara said, still managing to retain her aura of serene calm despite the newly acquired scorch marks and sprays of viscous orange ichor on her armour.

"Okay, Tali, Thane and I will go with Samara through the left passage. Garrus, you've got everyone else again; expect a trap, and just hold on long enough for us to break through the swarms and divert their attention. Communication will probably be spotty once we're inside so I'll contact you when we're through. Alright, you all know the deal, let's get this done and we'll meet up on the other side of the doors."

* * *

The distant sound of mass accelerator fire rumbled down the passageway that Team Two had entered not five minutes ago and Shepard knew it was time to go. Readying his rifle and receiving confirming nods from Tali and Thane, they approached Samara as she finished her meditation.

A bright flash was all the warning they had before they were engulfed in a small dome of biotic energy, approximately five metres in diameter. Samara's entire body radiated biotic power, the dark energy twisting and writhing across her lithe, armoured form while her eyes blazed pure white through her helmet's visor.

"I am ready, Commander. I would recommend haste, the focus needed to maintain this field is… draining," she said as she stood up and made her way to the doorway, the other three making sure they stayed within the dome.

"Alright, Tali, you focus on any doors that might be in our way and stay close to Samara, keep any husks away from her. Thane, you keep an eye out for any Collectors, the field will be hard enough to maintain without having to worry about weapons fire as well. Speed is going to be key; we get through here and then pincer the Collectors attacking Team Two. Let's get it done," Shepard ordered as he keyed the door control.

The door cycled open and their ears were immediately assaulted by deafening drone of the Swarms, a constant, pervading buzz of millions of tiny, semi-organic machines. Seconds later they began slamming themselves against the barrier, dozens at first but their numbers quickly built into the thousands. Samara recoiled from the force their sheer number provided, but she kept the barrier strong and started pushing forward, physically overpowering the blanketing mass.

The sensors in the squad's hard suits were completely useless due to the sheer number of swarms and Shepard strained his eyes to see anything beyond the living fog of the swarms; even Thane was having trouble making out anything. It didn't help that the only illumination in the cavernous space was pulsing light emanating from the tubes that ran along the ceiling and the faint roiling blue glow emitted from Samara's biotic fields.

They had covered almost a fifth of the distance when Thane spoke up.

"I saw something, twenty metres, 2 o'clock."

"Shepard, I think there's something back here too," Tali said charging her shotgun in the process, the harsh glow of the charged barrels casting harsh shadows across the landscape.

Shepard too caught a glimpse of glowing cybernetics as something disturbed the swarm on the left edge of the dome. He gripped his rifle tighter in anticipation.

"Me too; I think its husks. Be ready."

He could hear Thane carefully holster his Viper and ready his Tempest as he himself thumbed the safety on his Scimitar but left it attached on his back.

They weren't kept in suspense long.

The first husk burst through the barrier between Shepard and Thane and was quickly turned into a bullet riddled cadaver. The next came through seconds later in front of Tali, and for its trouble it had its entire torso burned away by the plasma that erupted across it. After that, the husks came thick and fast, bursting through the barrier from all directions only to be blasted back by the combined fire of the trio inside as they formed a protective circle around Samara while she kept struggling forward, blocking out the sounds of the fighting all around her.

A flash of blazing red just outside the dome flashed in Shepard's periphery and he turned just in time to see an Abomination burst through the dome. Reacting on instinct, he biotically threw the volatile husk clear of the barrier and was rewarded with an enormous gout of flame as any nearby seeker swarms were caught in the explosion and ignited, briefly illuminating the cavern and clearing the swarms enough to see through, their charred carapaces rained down around the squad.

Of course, what could now be seen through the swarms didn't make anyone feel much better.

They were approaching a narrow point in the path but between them and it were dozens of husks and abominations charging indomitably towards them. And to make matters worse, at the narrowest point there was a Scion, cannon raised and charged. Sure enough, a salvo of cannon shots smashed against the barrier seconds later, rocking Samara backwards and wrenching a cry of shock and exertion from her usually stoic lips. It also didn't escape anyone's notice that the barrier flickered slightly as the effort and concentration began to take its toll.

"Tali, get your drones and turret out there, we need to take that Scion out! Thane, cover us and keep the husks away from Samara," Shepard shouted hurriedly over the roaring of the Scion's second volley and the incessant droning of the swarms.

Tali responded immediately, lobbing one of her proto-type disposable turrets next to the Scion while ordering a pair of combat drones to harass it. The Commander sent a shockwave cascading through the husks and quickly followed up with a pair of frag grenades near the hulking mass of flesh that was blocking their path as Tali's drones darted around it and confused the husks while flaming napalm lashed out from the small flamethrower on her turret, sending clouds of embers and smoke spiralling into the air as the swarms in its path ignited.

Before long the air in the cavern was wreathed in fire and smoke, accentuating the already hellish appearance of the room. The husks were falling before the squad's onslaught but the Scion was absorbing the shots that were thrown at it, even as plasma scoring and mass accelerator impacts continued to gather on its armoured skin.

It was thane that finally cracked it, literally, by generating a viciously unstable warp field inside the Scion, ripping its insides apart and cracking the armour. Finally the fire being poured into it broke through and started to rip into the exposed innards of the amalgamated monstrosity. Conductive fluid and cybernetics began to gush out of the torn open chest cavity as the Scion collapsed, crushing a trio of unfortunate husks beneath its bulk. With the main threat neutralised, Shepard and Tali could turn their focus to the remaining husks, including a pair that had gotten far too close to comfort to Thane while he was focusing on the Scion. They were quickly put down and between the three of them, the husk influx was effectively stemmed as they neared the final stretch.

Shepard cast a glance over to Samara and could see that the continued exertion was starting to seriously take its toll on her. She was bent over double and breathing heavily as she struggled to maintain the field and push it forward against the weight of the Swarms still crashing against it. The Justicar had never looked so frail or drained, and the fact she wasn't even trying to maintain her composure was reason enough for concern

"How are you holding up Samara?" He asked, despite the answer being plainly obvious.

"We will need to reach the end soon, I'm not sure h-how much longer I can hold this field for," she forced through gritted teeth, her voice faltering slightly.

"Okay people, the doorway's just ahead, lets triple time it. Tali, as soon as we get there, get that door open, we'll cover you."

Drawing on whatever physical and mental reserves she had left, Samara powered forward, eventually breaking into a slow, loping run as she forced the swarms back while the other three picked off husks that were trying to climb up the sides of the pathway or follow them down the path.

They hit the door still firing and Tali had it open in under five seconds. She rushed through and prepared to close the door once everyone was through while Thane and Shepard took up positions on either side of the doorway, keeping a constant stream of fire on the oncoming horde.

Samara reached the doorway, keeping the bubble in a position to block any of the swarms getting through as she turned to face the oncoming husks. Her entire form was obscured by a raging, intangible mass of Dark Energy as she concentrated it around herself and, in an immense display of power, directed it as a solid wall of force at the foes in front of her, effectively blasting a 30m area of space clear of hostiles before staggering back beyond the door threshold as it slammed shut, locking the husks and swarms out.

Samara managed five more steps before she collapsed against the wall and slumped to the ground. Shepard and Tali both rushed to her side while Thane kept watch over the other tunnel entrances. They eased her to a sitting position and Shepard offered her his canteen of energy drink and a ration bar, which she promptly consumed after removing her helmet.

"I will be fine, Shepard, I simply need time to rest; maintaining the field was… exhausting," she assured them, as her breathing, while still laboured, began to even out and her voice began to regain its usual stable tranquillity.

"Alright, you and Tali stay here and cover our flank while Thane and I go help Team Two," Shepard said as he stood up and moved towards the door before keying his mic again. "Garrus, this is Shepard. We're through the swarms and are making our way to you now."

"Got it, Shepard. The Collectors have us stalled about two thirds of the way through. Just like we thought, they were waiting for us. We're holding our own for the moment but I'm not sure if we could push through without casualties," Garrus' voice sounded through the comms along with the booming of weapons fire and explosives.

"Hold your position Garrus, we'll be there ASAP and give them something else to worry about."

Samara rose to her feet, her characteristic grace and composure returning as she drew her rifle and took position behind a raised rock formation while Tali set up her turrets and drones before overriding the door and letting the pair through.

* * *

Thane and Shepard ran through the narrow tunnels, guns up, following the sounds of the firefight ahead. It wasn't long until they reached the rear of the Collector position and ducked behind some available cover.

"You deal with the flanks; I'm going to go straight through the middle," Shepard said as he readied his Scimitar and focused a barrier of dark energy around himself, giving Thane ten seconds to get into position before charging into one of the snipers at the back of the Collector's ranks.

The first anyone of Team Two knew of Shepard and thane's arrival was when they saw one of the snipers pinning them down with Particle Beam fire go flying over its cover after a crushing impact while another's head exploded as a pair of high velocity rounds blasted through its skull, ripping it apart as the rounds shattered inside.

With the sudden loss of their heavy firepower and enemies on both sides, the Collectors were now the ones trapped.

Now free to return fire on the off-guard Collectors, the members of team Two unleashed a withering volley, catching a number of foes completely unprepared. Thane and Shepard continued to tear through the back ranks while Grunt and Jack quickly caught on to what was happening and charged into the fray, decimating anything unfortunate enough to be in their path.

While jack focused on the Collectors, Grunt made it his personal mission to obliterate the two Scions that had been causing the team so much trouble. The first he dispatched by gouging a sizeable hole out of its chest with a Carnage blast, before crash tackling it to the ground and reducing its head to little more than charred and pulverised flesh with a blast from his Claymore.

The second was far more… visceral.

Grunt tried the crash tackle approach once again, but this Scion was ready for it. It batted the half-tonne of charging Krogan into a wall with a vicious swing of its cannon-arm. Undeterred by the blood leaking from his various wounds, the young Krogan advanced again, more cautiously than before. This time, when the Scion swung, Grunt was prepared. He sidestepped the wild blow and then stepped in _towards_ the Scion and grabbed the weaponised appendage. Then he started twisting. With a guttural bellow of effort and a keening cry from the Frankenstein-esque titan, the Krogan shattered the bone and cybernetics holding it in place and ripped the limb off entirely, hydraulic fluid combining with its unnatural ichor as it flowed from the newly sundered region. Heaving the immense weapon aside, he levelled his shotgun at the Scion's knee and blew the joint apart, laughing in twisted glee as the now unsupported construct crashed to the ground. The fight was ended when Grunt drove his foot clear through its warped skull, grinding it into the rocky floor.

While that was going on, the rest of the Collectors had been largely dealt with, and it wasn't long until the last one fell to a measured burst from Zaeed. Without a word, they all fell in behind Shepard and jogged back to the Junction, where Tali secured the door behind them as they entered.

Shepard gave everyone ten minutes to rest, dress any wounds and re-arm before they started on the next phase of the mission.

It was less than five before the Collectors started to try and break through the door.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later and the squad had put another two sealed bulkheads between them and the Collectors and finally reached an opening to the _true_ central chamber of the station, the one that housed the power generator and mass effect core, as well whatever it was that all the colonists were being processed for.

According to the scans they had, it wasn't as big as the pod-filled cavern they had skirted around earlier, but it was still immense; reminiscent of a dystopian version of the Presidium.

"Commander, Joker here. The _Normandy_ is mostly ready to fly again and Mordin and Jacob just arrived with the crew and colonists, no casualties," the pilot reported, much to the relief of John; the crew making it back safely was the best news they'd had all day.

"Good to hear, just be ready to get them out of here if this all goes to hell. Now EDI, can you get us to the central core?"

"Yes, I have access to a number of the station's systems and have gained control over three transport platforms. Also, I have locked down alternate routes to this location in an effort to slow the Collector counter attack."

"Nice work EDI, can you tell me anything about the core?"

"There is little information about it in the system, but scans show that all of the processing tubes lead in to that area, and there appears to be both organic and in-organic energy signatures emanating from it. I will continue to analyse the results and will notify you if I learn anything more."

Shepard's brow furrowed in thought for a moment as he considered the implications, before thrusting them to the back of his mind in order to focus on more pressing issues.

"Thanks EDI. Transfer control of the platforms to my omni-tool and get the _Normandy_ as ready as possible, we're probably going to need leave in a hurry if this all goes to plan."

"Understood, control transferred. Logging you out, Commander."

Shepard hopped up onto one of the strange hexagonal platforms attached to the side of the chamber that they now bordered and the rest of the squad quickly took notice and turned their attention to him.

"You were all recruited to take the fight to the Collectors and that's what we've done, here, today. We're standing _inside_ the Collector's base of operations, _beyond_ the Omega-4 Relay. I can't count how many times I was told it was impossible, but here we are. All that's left is to blow the core," he said, pausing for a moment to let the achievement sink in, before continuing, "I want to give everyone here the chance to back out now; you've done your part, your contracts are fulfilled. You can leave now, get back to the _Normandy_ and get out of here safely. I consider you all friends and squadmates, so I'll only ask for volunteers to come with me, and to stay here and hold this position."

Tali and Garrus had already stepped forward before he'd finished the sentence.

"We're with you Shepard, all the way," Tali said as she joined him up on the platform and Garrus nodded in agreement as he did the same.

"As am I," Samara stated as she too stepped forward.

"I will follow you, Battlemaster," then Grunt…

"My gun is yours Shepard," …closely followed by Thane.

"This platform will continue to assist Shepard-Commander," Legion's synthesised voice sounded as it stepped forward, head-flaps twitching and Widow rifle cradled easily in its hands.

"I'm right with you ,Shep," Kasumi said as she readied her Locust and hopped forward.

"Our mission was to destroy this base; I'll see it through to the end," Miranda stepped forward as well.

"I guess this is the part that constitutes being 'Big, Guddamn Heroes'," Zaeed grumbled as he pushed off the wall he had been leaning against and walked toward the group.

"Well fuck, if you're all staying then I may as well, too. You find good fights anyway," Jack muttered as she too moved closer to the platform.

John nodded his head slowly as he surveyed the group. A disparate group for sure, but they had all come together to face something that the rest of the galaxy refused to acknowledge and they were on the cusp of succeeding. As much as he wished Kaidan, Wrex and Liara could have joined him again, it was now that he truly realised he couldn't have asked for a better team.

Clearing his mind of the clinging sentimental thoughts, John laid out the plan.

"Alright then, Tali, Thane; you're with me. Garrus, I hope you're ready to go three for three because I'm leaving you in charge of the holding action, I imagine you can find a use for two of these platforms?" He asked rhetorically, before addressing the group as a whole.

"After today, we'll have done more than just beat the Collectors, we'll have taken the fight to the _Reapers_. Today we show them that we aren't insignificant, that we won't fade quietly into obscurity. Make me proud, and more importantly, make yourselves proud."

Before Garrus could hop off the platform though, he caught his attention and quickly leant in to talk to him privately.

"Get them out of here safely, hold for fifteen minutes or until I tell you we've reached the core, then go."

Garrus balked at the order but the pleading look from Shepard, visible even through his polarised visor, shut down any argument he had. Garrus nodded, placed a hand on his Commander's shoulder, then hopped off the platform and began organising defensive lines. Thane silently leapt up to take his place and Shepard guided it out, quickly moving out of sight of the rest of the squad and hoping it wouldn't be the last time he saw many of them.

* * *

**[AN: And there you have it, tell me what you think.**

**Next up is the Reaper Battle and End Run. this section has changed substantially from the original because I am firmly of the opinion that the Human Reaper design was ridiculous and also because the End Run really could have been a bit more intense (in my opinion, at least).**

**If any of you are also following my Mass Effect prequel story, that should be updated soon as well; the chapters are much shorter so editing is a much quicker process.**

**Thanks again and I hope you enjoyed it. /AN]**


	3. Heart of Darkness

******Disclaimer:**** **I do not own or make any claim to the Mass Effect universe or the characters contained in this story, all of which are owned by BioWare and Electronic Arts. This is simply my interpretation of some events within the game universe.

**[AN: I had originally intended for this story to be a three chapter one, but the final section ended up getting rather long and it would have taken me another week to find the time to finish it off. So instead, I broke it up into two parts, a 1/3, 2/3 split, word count wise.**

**Not much action in this one, it's mainly set-up for the final act, but I'd like to hear what you think. ****/AN]**

* * *

Resistance towards the Core had been light so far. In fact, the fighting on the moving platforms had left Tali feeling a bit unnecessary.

Thane had been picking off Collectors well before they came within weapons range, theirs or hers, while Shepard cleared any other platforms that attempted to dock, eradicating the husks and, in one case, charging into a Scion with enough force to send it toppling over the edge and into the abyss below.

She never thought she'd actually be disappointed that their foes were posing so little of a threat. Yet there she was, watching forlornly as two of the most calculating and efficient warriors in the Galaxy cut through the light opposition, while she was left hoping desperately for something to force her to focus and purge the slowly growing anxieties from her mind; even a Husk would do!

Despite her mental pleas, no more enemies presented themselves and soon they all found themselves wishing for something else to target.

EDI's voice cut into the tense silence as her voice filtered over the comms.

"Shepard, I have completed my analysis of the anomalous energy signatures. The signatures are massive, equivalent to a secondary Fusion and Mass Effect Core for this base. If my analysis is correct, then they originate from… a Reaper."

Tali had never heard the AI hesitate like that but considering the information she had uncovered, it was understandable.

"Keelah, did she just say a _Reaper_?!"

She also didn't miss the sudden, slight tautness in Shepard's frame.

"EDI, for once I _really_ hope your analysis is wrong."

Before EDI could reply, their platform entered the final chamber and docked with a central spire-island that must also house the core. But that realisation paled in comparison to the room's main feature.

The cavern they found themselves in was, like all its previous compatriots, immense. The curved walls receded into darkness in all direction, illuminated only by that repulsive orange glow. But it was the source of the glow that held her attention.

It was an enormous, membranous sack, cradled carefully in a metal lattice and filled with the same faintly luminescent dark orange fluid that flowed from the tubes all throughout the station, which she could now see flowed towards this… _thing_.

Then something inside it twitched.

The action caused the thick external membrane to shudder violently, and a sleek, mechanical leg pressed itself against the translucent sack. And with that, the entire silhouette resolved itself.

Even from this distance, it was clear to all three exactly what it was. EDI wasn't wrong, it was a Reaper.

Small and encased in a fluid sack, perhaps, but a Reaper nonetheless. The sleek, eldritch design of the monstrous creation was all too similar to Sovereign and the basic shape was identical.

The main difference appeared to be in size; whereas Sovereign was over 2km long, this one would barely reach 100m.

Still, its comparatively small size did nothing to reduce the sheer presence it commanded. The nameless anxiety and fear she had been feeling up to this point suddenly crystallised into an almost overwhelming sense of terror that she hadn't felt since the Adrenaline-hazed ascent of the Council Tower, under Sovereign's shadow. She could feel herself try and shrink away from the mechanical demon in front of her; even though it showed no sign of being conscious or even aware it still awoke some deep-seated survival instinct that demanded she flee far from it.

Even the Derelict Reaper hadn't had an effect this powerful on her, and she had been _inside_ it for nearly an hour. And as she tore her eyes away from the horrific sight, it was clear that it was having a similar effect on Shepard and Thane.

Thane had his head bowed in prayer, just barely audible over her own thumping heart.

"Kalahira, hear this one…"

Shepard still stood strong in the face of the form that had caused him so much pain and fear, but Tali could see the fear and rage in his stance; the slight warping of his weapon's grip, the way his shoulders had become protectively hunched ever so slightly and the involuntary half-step backwards he had just taken. She could hardly blame him either; she had had nearly three years to deal with the nature and existence of the Reapers, while he had had less than one, and that entire time had been spent fighting their slaves and dealing with his resurrection at the hands of an organisation he hates above everything else.

The angry tremor in his voice wasn't particularly surprising, either.

"This… this is what they've been using the colonists for, isn't it? They've been processing them, turning them into a new Reaper. This is what Harbinger means when he talks about 'Ascension'…"

"Correct. Shepard, my analysis shows that significantly more humans would be required to complete this Reaper, millions at least. The Collectors were likely beginning construction in anticipation of the arrival of the main Reaper force, which may indicate that their arrival is imminent, as most major Human colonies now reside inside Alliance Space, where continued abductions would be extremely difficult," EDI replied with the sobering news

"Damnit… god damnit all! Okay, let's focus on one Reaper at a time, we can deal with the others after we've blown this place to hell. Tali, get me access to the Core. EDI, how do we take this _thing_ out?"

"On it, Shepard," she replied as she quickly hopped off their platform and on to the central island that housed the control systems for the Station's Cores, immediately beginning to override the lockout mechanisms that secured them, while leaving some of her attention on the continuing discussion.

"The processing tubes connected to the Reaper are weak structural links. In theory, if enough of them were destroyed, the lattice support would be insufficient to support the gestation chamber's weight. However, as the intent is to destroy the base, would doing so serve any purpose?" EDI questioned, the confusion in her tone clear.

"Maybe not, but it would make me feel a hell of a lot better," he explained, as he drew his rifle and took aim at the first tube he could see.

Firing an extended burst at the exposed piping, it scarred the crystalline structure and chipped little fragments off, but did little else to the dense material.

"Thane, you take the left side," he ordered as he fired again, filling the clip to capacity.

He ejected that one in frustration but as he went to fire again, a shattering _crack_ shot reverberated within the cavernous space. Looking up, Tali could see that the tube he had been firing at was coming apart, chunks of crystal lattice falling into the abyss, followed by trickles of the horrifying human-based liquid. The surface of the tube distorted and warped as cracks radiated outwards form the first breach.

Then its structural integrity failed, spectacularly. Large shards rained downwards, followed by a cascade of the processed fluid as the entire connecting portion fell away from the rest of the piping.

The Reaper clearly took exception to this, as it writhed violently this time, enraged by their attack.

Thane was making progress with his first tube as well if the whispered sounds of his rifle coinciding with the continued creaking and shattering sounds from another tube were anything to go by. That tube began to fail at the same time as the ominous buzzing of Collectors became audible moments before they came flying into view, landing deftly on the another set of platforms nearby and pouring fire onto the three of them.

"Thane, cover me and take out any snipers you see, I'll handle the rest. Tali, how's the hack coming?" Shepard called out as he ducked back behind some cover.

"I'm almost there, Shepard, give me twenty more seconds."

"Got it, we'll keep them off you."

As it turned out, they barely needed twenty seconds. The Collector force was only small, and so no match for Thane and Shepard working in tandem. Thane silenced them quickly and efficiently from range while Shepard tore into their numbers in CQC. By the end of it, the platform in question was littered with Collector corpses in various states of (dis)articulation. Most of their forces must have been stuck trying to break through Garrus' blockade, if the pitiful lack of resistance they had encountered so far was anything to go by.

Tali couldn't help but fear for what her Turian friend and their other companions were facing at the moment.

"How's it coming Tali?" The Commander asked as he jogged his way back to the central island, absently flicking some Collector ichor off his gloves.

"Nearly there, I think something in the fight disrupted a pathway, just need to bypass it… hold on, shouldn't be a moment… there!" She exclaimed as the control panel rose up from the centre of the island.

Nice work Tali, let's overload the core then-" Shepard began before being cut off by a squawking radio.

_"__Uh, Commander, you're not going to believe this; I've got The Illusive Man on the QEC, he says he needs to talk to you,"_ Joker said, and Tali could have sworn she could _hear_ him rolling his eyes at the ridiculous timing.

"Right, because a Reaper wasn't bad enough…" Shepard grumbled, visibly trying to control his emotions at the moment. "Alright, patch him through," he instructed, and she brought the hologram feed up on her omni-tool, projecting it in front of him.

_"__Shepard, you've done the impossible, and accomplished a great deal for humanity, I-" _the enigmatic figure began, only to be interrupted by John as he stormed towards the hologram.

"I didn't do this for 'humanity', I did this to fight the Reapers; for all species, not just humans. I've never bought in to your 'human supremacist' bullshit so stop deluding yourself into thinking that's my motivation."

The Illusive Man remained unphased and continued with his careful, deliberate speech.

_"__A noble cause and one I won't begrudge you; I'm sure your crew appreciates the sentiment if nothing else. Regardless of your motivation, you've achieved a great victory today for the entire Galaxy, humanity included,"_ the head of Cerberus said before taking a slow drag from his cigarette.

It was the first time Tali had ever seen the man and the experience unnerved her almost as much as the Reaper. He had the same presence and charisma that Shepard had; it felt like he was considering your opinion, always being reasonable. But at the same time, there was something indescribably _wrong_ about him. There was a coldness to his voice, a slight sneer to his features. And the eyes. There was nothing natural about those eyes. Quarian eyes were luminescent by nature, but his eyes reminded her of a husk, mechanical and cold.

Shepard clearly felt the same way as his tone hadn't softened in the slightest.

"I'm sure you didn't call me just to tell me I did a good job, so what do you want?"

A dry, humourless chuckle was his only response for a time.

_"__You always were blunt, Shepard. My analysis of the schematics EDI provided indicates that a timed radiation pulse,"_ his figure disappeared as he spoke, replaced by the now familiar image of the inner layout of the Collector Base, with a blue pulse radiating from their location, _"would kill the remaining Collectors but leave the base's technology intact! Think of all the knowledge we could gain, the new technology to fight the Reapers. You know they're close, the Galaxy you're allegedly fighting for can't afford to lose this base!"_ The Illusive Man enthused as his form reappeared.

"And what, hand the base over so Cerberus can study it? Do you think I'm crazy! That," Shepard said angrily, jabbing his finger viciously towards the embryonic Reaper, "is why this base needs to be destroyed. What do you think your 'timed radiation pulse' will do to an actual Reaper?"

_"__Shepard, be reasonable. Think about what we could learn from it, from the entire base."_

"Even after what happened to your team on the Derelict Reaper, you still think that studying Reaper tech is a _good_ idea?! I knew you were ruthless, but this… what next, you're going to try and grow your own Reaper?"

_"__I doubt it would come to that, but imagine being able to harness their power for ourselves! Just as you seem to have underestimated my resolve, I appear to have underestimated your blind idealism. Can't you see that the only way to defeat the Reapers is to take their power and use it against them?"_

Tali could have sworn that his cybernetic eyes were glowing more fiercely then they had at the beginning as the ideological debate raged.

"There's always another way; nothing good can come from keeping this base intact!" Shepard practically shouted at the obstinate hologram, pacing angrily around on the island.

_"__Damnit Shepard, don't be so short sighted! You died fighting for what you believed in and I brought you back so you could keep fighting. Some would say that we went too far, but look at what you've accomplished! I didn't discard you because I saw your potential value; don't let your fear blind you to the rewards this base could offer."_

And there it was, the proof Shepard finally needed to end this conversation. Up until then it had been a debate between two parties who believed they could sway the other; but The Illusive Man had shown his hand, he only viewed Shepard as tool, a blunt instrument to further his own goals. Shepard had told her that he had expected as much but that so long as their goals aligned and the Alliance wasn't doing anything, that he would accept Cerberus' support.

But now their goals didn't align and that meant this conversation, and by proxy the strange partnership that spawned it, was over.

"I'm destroying this base and I don't really care what you think about my decision. Consider this 'equitable working relationship' over," Shepard said caustically, before he began to access the central console.

_"__Think about what you're doing Shepard, about everything that Cerberus has done f-"_ the hologram's final words were silenced as Tali cut the connection, not particularly wanting to listen to the rest of his rant.

Shepard sent a grateful nod her way as he cleared out space towards the base of the console. Then he turned back towards her properly.

"Tali, does that offer for a grenade to blow up Cerberus still stand? It's not quite The Illusive Man himself, but it's going to cause them a lot of pain," he said with a smirk she just knew he had beneath his helmet.

She had three Arc Grenades in her hands before he had even finished asking her.

He placed them, and a couple of blocks of Tactical Explosives, underneath the control panel, so that when the panel was lowered back into the floor, the explosives would do maximum damage to the cores and the surrounding control systems that kept them stabilised. Flashing warnings flickered rapidly across the console's screens, or at least what she _assumed_ were warnings; without an intimate knowledge of the Prothean language, there was no way for her to make any sense of it.

"Everything is set to detonate in seven minutes, followed by complete destabilisation of the cores. The Mass Effect Core should be inoperative three minutes later, and we don't want to be here when that fails. Complete core failure and overload should follow two minutes after that. So in short, we have twelve minutes to be on the other side of the Relay. Garrus, status report?"

_"__We're holding them pretty well so far Shepard, but we're starting to run low on clips. No fatalities so far, but we've got some pretty nasty injuries going around,"_ Garrus summarised, the overwhelming clatter of weapons fire and the chittering of the Collectors being clearly audible throughout the transmission.

"Good work Garrus. We're finished with the core, exfil the squad back to the _Normandy_; we won't be far behind."

"Got it Shepard, beginning exfiltration," Garrus confirmed before cutting the connection.

Shepard nodded absently, before turning back to face herself and Thane.

"Tali, Thane; we're leaving. Get to the platform and-"

**_VVRRRRMMMM!_**

* * *

**[AN: To make up for the distinct lack of combat in this chapter, I'm considering doing a parallel chapter from team Two's perspective, as that's where all the action's at. However, that would delay the final chapter by at least another week. If you have any preference, please let me know and I'll go with the majority, unless a particularly good reason to go one way or the other comes up.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you've enjoyed it so far. /AN]**


	4. The Styx's Toll

******Disclaimer:**** **I do not own or make any claim to the Mass Effect universe or the characters contained in this story, all of which are owned by BioWare and Electronic Arts. This is simply my interpretation of some events within the game universe.

**[AN: Here you are, my version of the defensive team's valiant stand.**

**I hope it was worth the wait./AN]**

* * *

It hadn't taken long for Garrus to get everyone in position; a lot of it seemed second nature after the last couple of hours of unrelenting combat.

He knew he had to keep the team mobile; Harbinger's singularities, the Praetorians' speed and levitation and the Collector's love of grenades made getting bogged down… problematic.

As such, he split them into three 'tiers' and spaced them accordingly:

The first 'tier' would be the breakers, slowing the tide of Collectors and clearing out the majority of the enemy force.

Zaeed, Grunt and Samara made up this group.

All three were tough, experienced warriors, with a knack for survival. Samara had more combat experience than the rest of the squad three time over and Zaeed was as tough as humans came. Grunt for his part had the embedded knowledge of a dozen Krogan Warlords and he was a close to physical perfection as possible for a Krogan.

The second tier needed to decimate the enemy, in the most literal sense of the term. The Collectors fielded a disturbingly high proportion of specialist units (Captains, Snipers, Abominations, etc), and that's not even considering the Scions, Praetorians and the Harbinger Avatar. Experience had shown that the ratio was roughly one specialist for every nine regular units, and each of these units was substantially tougher and more dangerous than their standard counterparts.

It was Legion's and his own job to deal with these threats quickly and efficiently. Only Shepard and Thane could hold a candle to Legion's pure, mechanical efficiency when dealing with enemies, and when you combine that with the small arsenal of weapons it carried, from the Plasma Shotgun to its Widow rifle, there was very little that could stand against it. And Garrus was confident in his own abilities, Shepard had trusted him to take care of the high priority targets in dozens of missions and he hadn't let him down yet.

He didn't intend to start now.

The final tier contained their wildcards; Kasumi, Jack and Miranda. They were safely positioned behind the two other tiers to keep the brunt of the fire away from them, thereby allowing them to exercise their particular specialties to the greatest effect.

While Miranda might not be much of a 'wildcard' per se, she was versatile and highly skilled in all forms of combat, whether it was weaponry, biotics or technology. She would also provide some much-needed guidance for Jack and Kasumi.

Jack, by comparison, was a wildcard in _every_ sense of the word; volatile, aggressive and extremely powerful. Her biotic abilities rivalled Samara's, and since the Justicar was still somewhat drained after escorting Shepard's team through the Seeker Swarms, Jack would be their main source of biotic power.

Kasumi's penchant for causing chaos would be invaluable with the odds they were facing, and her ability to slip in and out of sight with her cloak had led to Garrus instructing her to spread the Collector's thin and keep them from focusing on a single person; if they could force them to fight the group as a whole, then they stood a chance at surviving this.

As a final precaution/exit strategy, he had positioned the two platforms Shepard had left him below the edge of the area they were defending. It meant that they could set up a rolling retreat back onto them and make the fight mobile if it became necessary. They would also serve as a reasonably safe place to put any seriously injured individuals until they had a chance to treat them.

_If_ they had the chance to treat them.

Shaking the foreboding thoughts from his mind, he checked the mission timer on his visor. Five minutes had passed since Shepard had left and the main doors were visibly shuddering now.

Between the security locks Tali had placed on it and Legion's active counter-hacking, the Collector's attempts to override the door had been effectively stonewalled.

So they resorted to brute force.

According to his visor, the door's seam was approaching 300 oC on this side and it still hadn't quite undone Legion's weld; the Geth's plasma torch really did a number on the door. And while Garrus had to grudgingly admire just how impervious the Collector's defensive structures were, he wasn't sure how much longer the door would last against the level of firepower he could only imagine was amassed behind it. He could practically see the Scions firing salvo after salvo at the door while Praetorians slowly burned through the seam weld.

And then it all just… stopped.

No more hissing metal or booming cannon impacts, not even the faint chittering language of the Collectors.

The quiet seeped into the cavernous space, and it made what followed all the more jarring.

**_"_****_You fight against inevitability. The Cycle will continue, your races will be harvested and your mortal forms will be destroyed as the price for your defiance."_**

It would be impossible to describe what it feels like to have a Reaper speaking to you. Garrus had been in the unenviable position of hearing two of them, and the effect seemed to be consistent.

It was simultaneously awe-inspiring, terrifying and violating. You could feel the words enter your mind, seeping into your thoughts as the Indoctrination process tried to establish a foothold, and the effect was enhanced by the sheer power of the voice; a physical sensation more than a sound, a force that moved everything around it and exerted its own draining pressure on those who heard it.

There was nothing else that could be compared to it, and it took remarkable strength of will to resist a Reaper.

**_"_****_The Cycle cannot be stopped, your cause is hopeless. Submit now, discard your weapons and your ascension will be rapid."_**

"Hey, Asshole! Come and get them!"

A good thing, then, that Shepard had an preference for strong characters.

And while Jack's phrasing was unique to her, the rest of the squad agreed with her sentiment wholeheartedly.

**_"_****_So be it."_**

And then all hell broke loose.

* * *

On the plus side, the warped and twisted doors added a bit more cover for the Team to utilise on the rather sparse battlefield.

This, of course, was balanced out by the fact that those doors were all that had been holding the Collector Horde back.

A single, overwhelming biotic attack had ripped the doors apart so violently that they had taken large chunks of the wall they had previously been embedded in with them on their short flight, eventually stopping as they collided with the ground in a cacophony of tortured metal and splintering rock.

The doors had landed uncomfortably close to Samara, but the Asari appeared unfazed. This was good, seeing as how the dust hadn't even finished billowing upwards before the Collectors charged through the gaping wound that used to be a chokepoint.

Their unnervingly accurate fire ricocheted of the team's shields and barriers as they attempted to hunker down behind the meagre cover available to them.

Knowing that they needed to act now or risk being overrun, Garrus primed a pair of grenades (one a frag and the other an arc grenade he had persuaded Tali into sharing with him), and ordered the others to do the same.

The Collectors' fire faltered as ten various explosive devices sailed into their midst, before dying out completely when the grenades exploded. The sound was deafening, from the whooshing rush of ignition as Zaeed's inferno grenades ignited their deadly contents, to the ear-shattering _crack_ of Kasumi's flash-bangs as they detonated amongst the encroaching Collectors, throwing them off balance enough for Garrus' team to return fire.

Which they did, with interest.

Husks fell by the dozens and the Collectors that survived the explosive baptism were met with a hail of lead and tungsten as a reward for their tenacity, their chitinous armour shattering under the assault.

Of course, it seemed Harbinger had the same idea.

A cluster of biotic grenades carpeted the area near Garrus and Zaeed, forcing them to either bunch up closer to their comrades, or risk getting separated from them entirely. Zaeed managed to reach a nearby outcrop in time to shield himself from the blast, but Garrus was slightly to slow. He was far enough away to avoid the worst of the blast's concussive force, but the gravity-warping effects still ended up slamming him into the wall he had been trying to reach.

Shaking his head to try and clear away the fog and pain of the impact, he was once again thankful that Shepard insisted on his team wearing helmets in combat as he felt some new dents pushing ever so slightly against his mandibles and temple; anything strong enough to dent the thick metal and ceramic of that helmet would have cracked his skull open like a… well like that Collector's head over there that had just had a meeting with Grunt's crest-plate.

It seemed a bit had happened in his brief flight and possible blackout.

The fight was well under way now as the original chaos of the breach and first charge dissipated, leaving disciplined Collector troops being directed by their precise and strongly shielded Captains, while husks and abominations flanked and attacked from every conceivable angle, crawling and running over every surface, whether the twisted metal of the doors or their own fallen.

More worryingly, five Scions were now through the gap and taking up position in a wide arc, all the better to saturate his team's position with their brutal cannons and powerful biotic attacks. And if that wasn't enough, a sixth Scion, wreathed in eldritch fire and clearly an Avatar of Harbinger, stood defiantly in the centre of the enemy forces, firing off shockwaves and more of those grenade clusters at his team whenever they made their presence known.

The Possessed Scion's barrier rippled violently as it repelled a thundering round from Legion's Widow, but even that was not enough to punch through as it continued to repel the hail of lighter rounds directed at it.

"Jack, take it apart!" Garrus called out as he picked off charging abomination.

"With pleasure," the former convict snarled in reply, diverting her attention towards the repulsive creation.

Channelling the dark energy around her, she directed it in a massive wave towards the Scion, letting the energy wash over the creature's barrier, before forcing it to shear randomly, stressing the barrier beyond even its impressive limits and then pulling at the Scion's armoured hide beneath it.

Legion's following round blew a hole the size of a bioti-ball in its torso, and the next one scattered the remnants of its skull across the room. The flaming energy died out immediately as the massive construct crashed to the ground, the shockwave from the impact reverberating through the platform's metallic base.

There was no time to celebrate, however, as a Captain collapsed to its knees as that damnable energy snaked across its carapace. In seconds it had returned to its feet, it's numerous eyes blazing with Harbinger's control.

**_"_****_Your attempts are futile, you only damage the vessel."_**

Ignoring the taunt, the squad continued firing at the encroaching horde, burning through thermal clips, grenades and energy as they met the onslaught head-on:

Zaeed was the man on point, crouched behind the remnants of the bulkhead doors and greeting their foes with a wall of metal from his Revenant machine gun. The tiny tungsten pellets tore through the Collector forces like they were made out of wet cardboard, gouts of their thick orange ichor exploding out from their corpses as they were riddled with heavy fire. After expending two clips worth of ammo that way, he switched to his Firestorm. The flamethrower lashed out with 60ft tongues of flame, its sticky fuel latching on to anything unfortunate enough to be in its path as the napalm-like mix burned at 530oC. Husks and abomination, uncaring of their own safety, rushed headlong through the walls of fire; none of them made it more than five metres before they collapsed. He expended the better part of another tank on immolating a pair of the Scions pinning Grunt down, but he didn't get to see his handiwork as a Captain forced him back into more secure cover with a hail of fire that cut through his shields and impacted the armour beneath.

Said Captain was quickly suspended in the air as Miranda lifted it above its cover, before putting two round form her Paladin heavy pistol in its skull, leaving it little more than a pulpy mass after the high calibre rounds impacted. Then a carefully contained mass of Bose-Einstein condensate arced away from her omni-tool and impacted in the midst of a cluster of Troopers, snap-freezing them all in place.

No longer pinned by the Scions, Grunt charged through the newly created ice sculptures, shattering them into glistening fragments as the half-tonne of Krogan and armour barrelled through them on the way to his main target. An organised fireteam of Collectors were pushing towards Legion's position, and so they were unaware of the practically gleeful Grunt zeroing in on them.

They found out soon enough.

The first one's spine was shattered by the impact of Grunt's forearm, while the second was bisected by the force of the Claymore shot impacting it's skinny torso. The remaining four decided the Krogan was now the more immediate threat and opened fire at point blank range. Even the enormous shield generators stored in the Krogan's armour couldn't withstand such an onslaught for long, and it was barely seconds before rounds started to impact the armour, sticking to it as the Foucault currents coursing across its surface halted all metallic materials. Not that locked up armour joints stopped Grunt form powering forward; his immense strength pushing his limbs forward in the brief windows of time between round impacts. Soon, another two troopers had fallen to his Claymore and the last Trooper and its Captain made a fatal mistake; they both had to reload. Leaking blood from a number of bullet wounds but finally able to move freely once more, the enraged Krogan batted the last trooper away like it was a fly, before delivering a crunching head-butt to the Captain. Picking up his downed foe and raising it high above his head, Grunt brought the unfortunate Collector down on his knee with a sickening crack as bone and carapace splintered. Then he tore the broken form in two with a bellowing roar, getting coated in viscera and cybernetics for his trouble.

His triumph was cut short, however, by a Collector Sniper drilling its particle beam into his exposed back. Without shields, the beam of hyper-accelerated particles cleaved straight through the strained armour, leaving a burning gash across Grunts right shoulder and a large portion of his back. The Sniper was about to lance another beam into the Krogan's skull, when a round from legion's widow removed its own, the now lifeless body falling limply from its perch, sans head. The Geth platform then unholstered its pulse rifle and began to clinically eliminate a mass of husks and abomination that were rushing towards it. Seven bullet riddled corpses hit the crystalline floor before the remaining nine reached its position and just as it looked like it was about to be overrun, Legion dropped to its knees and turned used it's kinetic barrier to flash convert a thin layer of air into plasma, letting that wash out from its prone position and burn through the encroaching husks. Two pulses later and the husks were no more than ash and molten metal, slowly pooling on the ground. With the immediate threat dealt with, Legion once again raised its anti-materiel rifle and blew a chunk out of the cannon of another Scion, distracting it from Jack, who it had been preparing to blast.

For her part, Jack was dashing for a new piece of cover closer to the action, Eviscerator shotgun up and living up to its name as it carved through the weak barriers and chitinous plates of Collector Troopers. Seeing how the Scion's attention was now diverted, she launched herself into the air with a burst of biotic power, slamming down on top of the weakened and distracted Scion and jamming a pair of frag grenades into its gnarled hide. Leaping off again, she launched a powerful shockwave to clear her path of husks as she slid behind a nearby rock formation, strengthening her biotic barrier in anticipation of the grenade blasts. The explosives detonated in twin gouts of flame and shrapnel, ripping the Scion to shreds and peppering nearby Collectors and husks with shards of intensely hot and viciously barbed metal.

The few who survived the impromptu shrapnel shower were quickly dispatched by Kasumi as she flitted in and out of cloak to eliminate a weakened or distracted foe. Making full use of her enhanced agility, the thief leapt and sprinted across the battlefield, ducking a weaving between the cross fire before finding some unlucky target and jamming her Locust's barrel into the base of its skull, careful to angle the muzzle so that the back-spray wouldn't coat her and disrupt her ability to cloak.

Harbinger, however, wasn't so easily fooled.

Somehow tracking her through her cloak, the possessed Captain followed her path and, when she stopped and uncloaked briefly to dispatch another Collector, it released a vicious biotic attack that slammed into her left hip and thigh. Screaming involuntarily as the energy burned through her robe and her armour, attacking the soft flesh beneath, the suddenly found herself staring up at the barrel of a rifle, wielded by her former target.

It was only a pin-point shot from Garrus that saved her from her near execution, the round form his mantis entering at the base of its skull and exploding out above its right row of eyes, a trajectory that kept the round far away from Kasumi. Smoothly reloading and taking aim at the next target, he blew the Collector's shoulder joint to pieces as he covered Kasumi's hobbling retreat back towards the relative safety of the team's position. Another round punched a hole through the chest of a Captain and yet another collapsed the Barrier on Harbinger's latest avatar.

Uncaring of the attacks directed towards its puppet, Harbinger forced it on regardless, only to have it reduced to a pile of ash as Samara placed a careful burst through its chest, and another through its head for good measure. A small and short-lived singularity ripped a cluater of husks apart as the impossible gravitational forces broke them down at the molecular level, before exploding outward as it collapsed, blowing another trio of husks and two troopers off their feet and into the surrounding walls, their bodies impacting with audible splats as the force pulverised the remnants of their internal organs.

However, the focus she had expended on maintaining the singularity meant that she missed the remaining two Scions take aim at her.

The first round smashed into her with enough force to send her staggering and it was only barely absorbed by her barriers. The second shot didn't have that problem, it blew through the weakened barriers and slammed the Justicar into a nearby rock pillar. The cannon round had destroyed the armour where it hit, leaving a burned and lacerated mess of purple-stained flesh across her back. The force of the round and her unintended meeting with the pillar had also broken a number of ribs and she could feel the warm, suffocating feeling of blood beginning to enter one of her lungs, presumably where one of those shattered ribs had pierced the organ.

As the numbing feeling of Shock began to encroach on her consciousness, she used the brief respite from pain to focus enough biotic power around the two Scions to wrench their immense forms off of the ground and into the air over the cavernous drop that made up most of the space. A pair of dull thuds were just barely audible twenty seconds later, but by that time Samara had already blacked out from her injuries.

Seeing the Justicar collapse and the substantial amount of blood pooling around her prone form, Garrus swore colourfully before activating his comm.

"I need covering fire NOW, Samara's down and she's about to be cut off," he ordered, not waiting for confirmation before he dashed out from his cover, his Carnifex pistol booming as he fired into the Collector horde.

Of course, the rest of the team responded immediately, breaking cover almost simultaneously and forcing their foes into defensive positions with an onslaught of gunfire, riddling those who were too slow or didn't heed the warning.

Wasting no time once he reached Samara's position, he holstered his pistol and slung the gravely wounded Asari over his shoulder. Leaving a frag grenade as a parting gift, he rushed towards the evac platform, where Kasumi was still tending to her leg.

"Woah, what happened to her?" The small thief questioned as she stared in mute horror at the grisly wound.

"Scion," was Garrus' terse reply as he eased the Asari to the ground, the violet blood smeared across his right hand side reflecting the light in macabre ways. "I need you to get some medigel on that wound, keep her from bleeding out. After that, stay her and keep both of you safe; there's nothing more we can do until we can reach Mordin or Chakwas.

The thief just nodded in understanding as she immediately set to work on the still-bleeding Asari.

Glancing at his mission clock as he took up a firing position once again, Garrus could see that it had been eighteen minutes since Shepard's squad had left. He should have ordered a fall-back minutes ago according to the Commander's orders, and he definitely should now that they were two down and the Collector's showed no signs of running out of troops anytime soon; Spirits, any other Turian Commander would have followed the order to the letter, and maybe Samara wouldn't have been fighting for her life at the moment.

But he couldn't fall back just yet, doing so would give the Collectors a clear shot at Shepard, Tali and Thane, and then the whole mission would have been for nothing.

"Sorry Shepard, but I've never been a very good Turian," he said with a muttered sigh.

* * *

By the time Shepard's order to extract had come through ten minutes later;

Three Praetorians had entered the fray and turned a previously semi-ordered defence into a desperate scramble form cover to cover and the floating leviathans hunted them down.

Jack had nearly been gutted by a Captain's double-bladed knife, receiving a deep gash to her abdomen after twisting at the last moment, instead of losing her entrails. There wasn't much left of the Captain anymore, but Jack had been in no state to fight after that, leaving Miranda as their only active biotic left.

And Grunt had taken so many hits that the only reason he was still standing, let alone fighting, was because of his barely suppressed Blood Rage. His body was trying desperately to keep up with the number of gashes, burns and bullet wounds he was accumulating, ranging from inconsequential to severe, but he kept charging headlong into battle and shrugging off the pain he must have been in.

Not wasting any more time as the odds continued to stack against them, Garrus ordered an immediate retreat to the platforms. It was a pretty quick affair, seeing as how three of their number were already there in various states of consciousness and the others had been pushed to within meters of them anyway.

Garrus was the last one to board, and as EDI piloted the platforms away from the amassed forces of their enemy, a single, shilling sound shook the entire cavern; the unmistakable blaring of a Reaper's horn.

Looking back to see the Collectors take flight down the tunnel that the sound had come from, Garrus couldn't help but wonder what his friend had gotten himself into this time, and pray he would make it out safely.

* * *

**[AN: And that's that, sorry it took so long, but I got stuck at a couple of points, trying to work out how I wanted to progress it. **

**So what did you all think of it? I think a couple of parts didn't flow to well, but I figured it would be best to get it all posted and see what you guys thought about it.**

**The final chapter should be up within a week, with any luck, and those of you following my prequel story, that will be the next thing to get an update, very soon hopefully.**

**Thanks again for reading! /AN]**


	5. A Staring Contest with the Abyss

******Disclaimer:**** **I do not own or make any claim to the Mass Effect universe or the characters contained in this story, all of which are owned by BioWare and Electronic Arts. This is simply my interpretation of some events within the game universe.

* * *

The blaring horn froze Shepard in place and Tali knew exactly why. They had both heard that sound before, on the Citadel nearly three years ago.

It felt was moving more slowly, just to reinforce the horror of the situation as all three turned in unison towards the source, the larval Reaper inside its fluid sack. But as Tali looked at it, she thought it appeared… different. The contents of the sack seemed to be glowing red now, and it was growing brighter, almost as if it was-

Her thoughts were interrupted as she suddenly found herself off her feet and on course for an intimate meeting with the ground.

Both she and Thane landed heavily behind one of the support struts that laced the surface of the central island and snapped towards the threat simultaneously, weapons raised. All they saw, however, was the Commander, standing on the other side of the island with motes of dissipating dark energy falling away from him.

But that was all they saw before a blindingly bright lance of incandescent molten metal cut through the air and slammed straight into the platform they had been about to get on, ripping an enormous gouge straight through it and leaving it little more than a glowing pile of molten slag as it broke away from its dock and tumbled into the abyss. Tali's eyes widened considerably as she turned back to the Reaper.

It was no longer encased in its fluid sack.

The shot it had fired had cut clean through whatever material it had been made of and now a ragged gash had opened up and fluid was spilling out of it at a copious rate. And it was as the fluid drained that the larval Reaper came into view.

Angry red energy rippled across and underneath the sleek metallic carapace as it writhed and struggled against the material that covered it. Tali could only stare in horror as it freed one leg, then another, and another after that, until all four were free.

Now free, the eldritch machine moved carefully, precisely, as it manoeuvred one leg, than another outside of its biomechanical cocoon, using it as an anchor as it silently pulled its huge bulk out of the confines of the sack and hung suspended on its surface.

Despite the rough landing and awkward position, she still couldn't force her eyes away as it began to find a more solid anchor point amongst the nest of support structures that had helped hold the 'womb' in place. Every movement had an unnatural, fluid grace that unnerved her; more so, at least. It reminded her of the Tarantula Shepard had shown her in a pet shop once; the Reaper moved with the same alien fluidity and purpose as it stalked its prey. The thought of the how similar it was to a spider sent a shiver down her spine and forced her to look away.

'Spiders, why is it always spiders!' A strangely detached part of her mind observed. Only now that she wasn't transfixed by the Reaper did she see Shepard crouch-running towards her position, careful to stay out of it's sight-lines.

"Are you two alright?" Shepard asked once he reached their position.

"I'm fine, Shepard," she replied promptly, noting the lack of alarms or warnings from her suit.

"As am I, though my vision is still recovering," Thane noted.

"Same here, my visor couldn't handle that beam," Shepard agreed.

"Wait, you're both blind?" Tali nearly shouted.

Getting past the Reaper and off the station in time would be difficult enough with both of them fully functional, but if they couldn't see then their chances of survival dropped very, very sharply.

"Not blind, no, just… it's a bit bright, and I may have a negative colour image of that beam burned into my retina," John replied, and Tali couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"Keelah, does that mean I'm the only one who can shoot?"

"I can still fight, I just won't be making any precision shots for a while. And weren't you affected by the beam?"

"No, my visor protected me; it _is_ rated for use with arc-welding equipment after all," she replied, tapping the side of her helmet for emphasis.

"Remind me to upgrade my helmet when we get out of here. Until then, you're our eyes."

"I assume that means you have a plan to deal with the Reaper that's currently trying to kill us?"

A quite audible whirring and clanking noise could answered that question as he reached back and pulled the now extended M-920 Cain from his back.

"I was thinking that this might be of some use," he smirked, hefting the passive weapon onto his shoulder.

"And how, exactly, do you expect to hit anything if you can't _see_ properly?"

"The auto-targeting software should do most of the work, I just need you to point me in the right direction; the less time it takes to lock-on, the better."

"Or you could just give it to me and I'll do it," she stated dryly and made to grab the cannon, but Shepard held it firmly.

"No, I'm not going to let you expose yourself to a Reaper for as long as it takes to fire this thing. Besides, it weighs almost as much as you, you'd have a hard time carrying it, let alone firing it."

"Fine," she relented after a moment, recognising that he was right, "it was right by where the sack used to be when I last saw it, let me check…"

She carefully raised her head above their meagre cover in order to get a visual on the larval Reaper. She located it immediately, still attached to the same point it had been at before, but now there was an ominous crimson light emanating from its core where all the legs met the body. Realising what was about to happen, she threw herself into Shepard as the Reaper's Magnetohydrodynamic weapon blasted through the rows of structural beams and passed less than two meters away from their position, the immense heat and sonic boom washing over them.

Tali could feel the searing heat immediately, even through her suit. Her skin burnt and blistered immediately, leaving her in agonising pain until the devastating weapon cut out. Her suit had already begun administering painkillers and thermal gel to the burns, but there was little that could be done about it until they reached the _Normandy_.

She carefully rolled off Shepard, trying her best to avoid letting her back touch anything, now very thankful for the sterile and skin tight nature of her suit and its impressive thermal resilience; anything less and she would have likely been killed instantly from the thermal shock. Thane had fared better as he was further away, but he had almost certainly suffered some burns from the experience while Shepard's heavier armour and Quarian shield had protected him almost completely.

"Damnit, Tali are you okay?!" Shepard asked frantically, more as he quickly checked her over for injuries, only to retract his hands just as quickly when he heard her hiss in pain as he approached her back.

"I'm fine, the suit's already taking care of it," she forced passed gritted teeth, trying her best to hide the nerve-fraying pain until the medication fully kicked in.

Indecision halted his movements and thoughts for a second, and she knew he was debating with himself between taking care of her and focusing on the mission. She was about to yell at him to stop worrying about her, she could still move and fight and her suit was doing everything it could, afterall, when he must have reached a similar conclusion.

His posture straightened, his body tensed and his grip tightened, all signs she had come to associate with his 'On Mission' mindset.

"We need to move, split up some more so it can't hit us all. Tali, when I give the signal, I need you to activate your drone so it can get a fix on the Reaper. Link the drone's display to my HUD when you're ready and that will link it to the Cain. We need to end this fast, we've only got seven minutes until the core fails."

* * *

All three of them spread out to various positions on the island as Shepard began to charge the Cain, the harsh glow slowly building. He signalled for Tali to activate her drone, which she tossed over her cover and directly into the Reaper's line of sight. The drone lasted for all of five seconds before another lance of ruby fire annihilated both the drone and the nearby features of the environment, but that was all Shepard needed to orient himself relative to the Reaper.

As the Cain's light built into a small star, he whipped up from cover and heaved the immense weapon with him, locked on to the Reaper and fired.

The ultra-high yield explosive shell was near-instantaneously accelerated to 5km/s and it slammed with immense force into the Reaper, warping and crushing the metal as it embedded itself into it, causing the giant construct to recoil backwards. Half a second later, the shell detonated and tore a substantial gouging crater out from the nightmarish machine's side.

Its horn bellowed in defiance, in spite of its gaping wound and charged its main gun again. This time the beam was far more dangerous, carving an erratic pattern all across the island and annihilating everything it came into contact with. Tali could hear the groaning of support columns as more and more of the structural supports were damaged, in between her desperate dashes away from the beam.

Shepard, by contrast, calmly waited for it to finish its greatly extended burst, charging the Cain as he did. Eventually, it stopped and Shepard stood up, aimed dead centre (as best he could) and fired again.

This time the shell practically blew the vaguely insectoid machine apart, rending legs from its main body. In a final act of defiance before it tumbled into the abyss where it belonged, the Reaper fired again and continued firing as it fell, toppling off of its perch in a shower of flames and debris.

Everything went quiet, a stark contrast to the last four hours of constant fighting. The silence was followed by a sense of relief as what had just happened sunk in.

They had killed a _Reaper_, an actual _Reaper_! Shepard carefully collapsed the Cain and reattached it to his back before letting out a tired, happy laugh, the most genuine Tali had heard in weeks.

'First a Thresher Maw and now a Reaper, that gun is quickly becoming his favourite form of Catharsis,' Tali thought with a smile as she quickly made her way over to him.

She was less than fifteen feet away when a deafeningly loud crack echoed through the chamber. Her eyes went wide in fear as realisation struck her, just in time for the platform to lurch suddenly under her feet and drop away sharply. Caught completely unprepared, lost her footing immediately and the slick, armoured surface of her suit offered little resistance to the ground as Gravity took a hold of her. Frantically, she tried to find a hand hold in the uneven floor, but between her thick gloves and her velocity, she couldn't get a purchase on the small cracks in the ground.

Her perception of time began to slow as she neared the edge, realising that there was no way out of this. She could see Shepard sliding down after her desperately trying to catch her, but the engineer in her already knew that he couldn't reach her in time, she was moving too fast. The last thing she saw as she slipped over the edge was his outstretched hand, desperately trying to reach her in time.

As she felt the weightless sensation of free-fall envelope her, Tali knew she was about to die. And while it ought to be terrifying, part of her had already accepted it; she knew it was a Suicide Mission going in and that the chances of surviving it had been slim at best, but they had succeeded. She could only hope that Shepard would save himself now, rather than try in vain to save her and sacrifice himself in the process. Another part of her raged against the unfairness of it all, to have finally gotten to be with the man she loved and then to be taken away so soon after; she didn't want to give up and she would fight for as long as she could to survive, regardless of how hopeless it was.

She tried to feebly to grasp the ledge as her hand slipped over it at last, but there was no purchase to be found on the metal. She thought she would be screaming by now, and she may have heard herself calling out for John (she couldn't be sure), but right now she let the feeling of weightlessness consume her as she fell into the darkness below. Her last thoughts were of the time she had spent with John and her time aboard the _Normandy_, all the things they had accomplished together.

Her final musings were interrupted, however, by a welcome if unexpected sight; in a whirl of indigo light and dark energy, Shepard 'appeared' partly over the edge of the platform. A violent jolt halted her fall as a powerful grip clasped around her forearm, sending a sharp burst of pain to her shoulder and through her burned skin but she was too surprised to notice. From her position below the lip of the platform she could see the orange light from Shepard's omni-blade where it had pierced _through_ the floor and stopped him from sliding over after her. The position must be extremely uncomfortable for him, with one arm effectively holding both of their weight while relying on an impossibly sharp blade to not slice through the material holding them in place. She could hear the grunt of pain from him as he tried to adjust to the extra weight, straining even with his significant strength and cybernetic augmentation.

There were no words to describe exactly what Tali was feeling and the same could probably be said for Shepard; for once neither of them had anything to say. The look they shared said it all; they were both relieved beyond all imagining, more for the other's safety than their own. Breaking eye contact after what seemed like an hour, he quickly radioed Thane.

"Thane, it's Shepard. I've got Tali, but we can't get back up, and our position is a bit precarious. See if you can get access to one of the platforms and pick us up," he grunted, his voice strained from the exertion and stress of the situation.

Thane's ever-calm voice replied immediately.

"I am already on my way to you, ETA is thirty seconds."

Sure enough, the tell tale whirring of the hovering platform became audible soon after and Tali could see it descending towards them. Thane positioned it below them and Tali felt the grip on her hand release as she fell the last two feet, landing carefully on her feet and letting Shepard slide over and onto the platform. He landed with a loud clang as he dropped ten feet from the edge of the platform where he had been hanging, rocking the platform slightly. Once he was down, he was straight back to the mission on hand.

"EDI, what's the quickest way to the _Normandy_ from our position?"

"There is a corridor system that runs for approximately 800m and leads to an external access port. The _Normandy _cannot dock, so you will need to access it via one of the external doors; as your hard suits are all intact that should not pose an issue."

"Understood EDI, give us a Nav point."

Immediately a small marker popped up on Tali's HUD, indicating the location of the corridor in question.

"Alright, let's move. Thane, pilot this thing over to it and be ready to fight, we don't know what resistance we might come across. We've got two minutes until the grenades detonated and five until we lose gravity and the base begins to fall into the black hole."

* * *

A minute later, they had docked at the entry to the corridor system and received a warning from EDI; the entire tunnel was filled with Collector forces with more closing in on their position from behind; and with four minutes to go they couldn't afford to waste time.

"Check your guns and be ready to move, things are going to get crazy in a minute. Tali, I need you as rear guard; keep your turrets and drones out and stop them from pressing on us. Thane, keep an eye out for targets of opportunity both in front and behind, particularly snipers. I'll clear the area in front. Whatever happens we need to keep moving forward. EDI, can you send support from the _Normandy_?"

"The last of the ground team have boarded and we are en route to the rendezvous location. There are currently four squad members fit for combat."

"Only four?! What happened to the rest of the team?"

"The other members of the squad sustained varying levels of injuries, ranging from moderate to severe and are confined to the Medical Bay for treatment by Dr Chakwas. The combat effective individuals are Zaeed Massani, Garrus Vakarian, Miranda Lawson and Legion."

"Alright, tell them to grab the heaviest weapons they can manage and go to standby, we don't have much in the way of firepower so we might need them."

"Acknowledged. The fire team is standing by and will clear the LZ upon the _Normandy's_ arrival."

"Thanks EDI. Alright people, this is the end run. Stay together and keep each other safe, I'll make sure we can keep moving ahead."

As if on cue a loud explosion followed by a large tremor rocked the station. Secondary explosions followed soon after, sending uneven ripples through the station as chunks of material began to fall from the roof and entire platforms were shaken free and began plummeting to the ground. A haze of rippling Mass Effect fields enveloped Shepard as he drew his Scimitar, nodded to the pair behind him and took off at a dead run.

Tali left Chatikka behind to alert them when the Collectors reached the corridor before sprinting after Thane and Shepard. They had made it all of fifty metres into the corridor before encountering resistance but it had been quickly dispatched. For the moment the only thing Thane and Tali had to worry about was being hit by falling rubble but soon the resistance intensified with Abominations, Scions and Captains barring their path. About three hundred metres in and still moving at a run to keep up with the Commander, Tali could see that the Collectors had begun advancing behind them and she knew it wouldn't be long before they caught up. She dropped two turrets and a couple of mines as a welcoming committee and kept moving.

For his part, the Commander was moving with a practiced efficiency ('shotgun blast to the torso followed by a biotic strike to the underside of the head, throw field on the trio of husks, decapitate the abomination with omni-blade, stab left blade into the Scion's right knee, duck cannon swing and finish with the right blade slicing through its left thigh and up through its cannon'), and leaving a trail of devastation in his path.

Thane was also displaying his characteristic grace, moving fluidly from point to point, making pinpoint shot after pinpoint shot and dropping their foes as they showed themselves. Tali was causing carnage as well, flashes of plasma, arcs of electricity and the venting steam of overheated weapons were clear signs of her involvement, focusing mainly on supporting Shepard as he continued his assault, tight clusters of plasma erupting on any Collectors that managed to avoid his attention as he moved ahead.

With only one hundred metres to go before and one and a half minutes before the base went (further) to hell, Harbinger made his appearance… flanked by two Praetorians.

Reacting on instinct tot eh threat, he dived into cover just before four lines of super ionized particles ripped through the air where he would have been if he had of kept going.

Now he had a problem though, there was nothing they were carrying that could damage a Praetorian except for the Cain, but firing that inside a narrow corridor at this range would be tantamount to suicide. And being a narrow corridor, the two Praetorians side by side left a total of two metres of free space across the breadth of it.

So he couldn't get past them and he couldn't kill them, that didn't leave a lot of options.

Only distraction.

Opening a private link to Thane he relayed his instructions.

"Thane, I'll draw their attention, Harbinger's only ever been interested in me. Once they take the bait, get Tali and yourself to the _Normandy_ and tell Joker to _leave_."

Thane hesitated for only a moment, before he nodded slowly in resigned acceptance and farewell.

With that confirmation, Shepard stood up and sprayed the Praetorians and Harbinger with fire to get their attention. As he expected, Harbinger immediately sent the two floating juggernauts after him while directing his own biotic attacks and rifle fire at his fleeing form. Drawing them deeper into the corridor where it widened slightly, the two Praetorians moved straight past Thane and Tali's position, following the Commander with a single minded determination.

He could hear Tali screaming at him over the comm even as Thane grabbed her arm and tried to pull her towards the _Normandy_.

"I'm Sorry," was all he managed to say, over and over again, not even paying attention to her words; he already knew what she was saying.

He kept pushing back into the Collector forces that now surrounded him, dodging the Praetorians fire as much as possible, but fatigue was beginning to set in, coupled with the exertion of maintaining his barrier under such heavy fire combined and the emotional, mental and physical stress of the last few days.

Cut off as he was, he knew he was going to die; his body couldn't keep going forever and he was nearing his breaking point.

'At least they'll survive this' he thought as his shotgun decapitated another drone, 'and the Reaper's are set back once more.

'I guess it will be up to Garrus now to finish this fight, once the Reapers arrive in force. He showed today that he could lead them, and they'll need a god leader like him when the time comes. Plus I know he'll look after Tali for me,' he thought as his barrier began to slip, the occasional sand-grain sized flecks of enamel pelting and cracking his armour as they passed through the weakened barrier. IN fact, he could have sworn he could he his Turian friend's voice yelling at him over the comm, but everything was becoming difficult to concentrate on.

Looking up, he could just make out Thane still struggling to pull Tali away. They were nearly at the exit to the corridor when that they were suddenly brought into painfully sharp relief in his mind.

Harbinger's puppet had been waiting for his teammates and he watched in clear-minded horror as Thane twitched and staggered as a warp field began to rip into his barriers, just in time for a line of bullets to stitch his body from thigh to shoulder, shattering what remained of his shields and impacting the thinner armour of his back. Thane was flung to the ground by the force of the attacks, his body writhing in pain from the bullets and the biotic field that was now ravaging his unprotected flesh.

John could feel himself taking hits now, as his barriers failed entirely and only his armour stood between his soft innards and the vicious swarm of fire directed at him. Even the best armours can only take so much, and the familiar explosion of pain that accompanied a bullet wound blossomed in multiple spots around his body.

But that pain was nothing compared to what he saw next.

He could see the plasma flares of her weapon's pellets impacting Harbinger's barriers, the Reaper ignoring it like it was a mild inconvenience, well aware that it would still be able to reach her position before the body it controlled could be destroyed, advancing implacably towards the one person Shepard held dearer than any other.

He was spent, he couldn't summon the power to defend himself and he barely had the energy left to stay conscious as his armour's medical programs went into overdrive to try and keep him alive. But seeing the burning avatar of a Reaper advance towards a severely exposed Tali snapped something inside of him.

There was no way he would let anything happen to her so long as he was still alive.

Harbinger continued to approach as Tali remained trapped in the open, firing desperately. It cocked its head as if in curiosity as it studied its prey.

**_"_****_Quarian; considered due to cybernetic augmentation, weakened immune system deemed too debilitating."_**

A biotic strike disarmed Tali and sent her sprawling on the floor. Harbinger placed a foot on her back, pinning her in place and causing her to scream in agony as the burns beneath her suit flared in agony upon contact.

**_"_****_I know you feel your mate's pain Shepard. Your interference has ended, submit now."_**

Harbinger commanded before raising its rifle to her head, twisting its foot as it did.

"If I know Shepard, your answer is coming at relativistic speeds," a distinctly Turian voice called out as Garrus and the other three members of the fire team crested the hill and, as one, began firing on the horde of Collectors.

And he was right.

Half a second later Shepard slammed into Harbinger's puppet with enough force to knock it clear off of Tali; the dark energy contrail being the only clue to his previous position. This was followed by a thermal clip's worth of pistol rounds being emptied at point blank into its head, each round causing it to jerk violently as round after round slammed into its skull and excised chunks of brain-matter and viscous ichor.

The now thoroughly battered Collector fell to its knees, what little was left of its face and eyes still glowing fiercely with Harbinger's presence, rivers of flame running across its carapace.

**_"_****_You only damage the vessel, you cannot hurt me."_**

"Maybe not now, but let's see what happens when you have to enter the fight personally," Shepard spat at the baleful creature, just before it collapsed into ash.

Returning to the wider battle, Shepard found the remnants of his squad still firing heavily on the Collectors, a combination of heavy automatic fire from Zaeed's Revenant, the booming shots of Legion's Widow, persistent missile fire from Garrus and precision heavy pistol rounds and biotic attacks from Miranda.

The number of Collectors had been thinned out considerably, including one of the Praetorians while the other one was beginning to fail under the barrage of fire directed at it.

"Legion, get Thane back to the _Normandy_, quickly! Zaeed, Miranda, help Tali; Garrus and I will cover you."

"Shepard, I'm not leaving you! Not again!" Tali shouted, furiously struggling to break free of Miranda's grip.

"We'll be right behind you; I don't plan on dying here, not now," he shouted back, silently pleading for her to get to safety while he continued firing at the oncoming horde.

She seemed to relent and the five of them began to fall back quickly. Shepard scooped up Tali's dropped shotgun and added its devastating firepower to the fray as Garrus continued to pour missile fire into the crowd. Priming a frag grenade, he threw it into an approaching cluster of husks, blowing the severely degraded corpses apart while Garrus dropped the launcher and opened fire with his vindicator, picking off advancing Collectors as they tried to rush their position.

"Garrus, go! Get to the _Normandy_; I just want to leave a final present for our friends."

Garrus growled at the thought before relenting.

"You better be right behind me Shepard, or Tali will kill me, then I'll kill you again when I get to the afterlife!"

Garrus began sprinting back to the _Normandy_ as Shepard popped out of cover and rained plasma on the enemy forces. Dropping back into cover to eject the heat sink, he pulled the last of his grenades out and primed them before tossing them into the rapidly approaching horde. In the time it took for the grenades to detonate, he had the Cain out again and nearly charged.

With one final shot, he released the gigantic warhead into the ceiling of the tunnel 100m, before ducking back behind his cover as the over-pressure wave blasted past him, flinging pieces, and sometimes whole, Collectors and husks dozens of metres.

Making the most of the reprieve, he broke cover and ran as fast as his battered and wounded body would carry him.

Harbinger's disembodied voice boomed in his head as he ran, adding to the chaos that surrounded him as rounds deflected off his abused but finally recharged shields.

"**_Human, you have changed nothing. Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater; that which you know as Reapers are your salvation through destruction."_**

Ignoring the omnipresent voice as best he could, he crested the rise and found himself looking at the outside of the Collector base, with the equally battle-worn _Normandy _less than fifty metres away, hovering off the edge of a ridge. He could see Garrus climb into the airlock door and bring his rifle to bear and cover Shepard as he approached. He could also see Tali, waiting for him despite her wounds and, much to his surprise, Joker was there, cradling his custom-modified, recoilless Avenger, ready to give him cover if needed.

Running as hard as he could, and trying to ignore the warning tones about a breached suit as precious air began to leak out of the numerous holes and wounds he had sustained, he had made it about twenty metres before the mass effect fields holding the station in a stable orbit gave out.

Suddenly, with nothing holding it in place and the immense gravitational and tidal effects of the black hole they were orbiting, the base began to shift and it lurched violently downwards, away from the _Normandy._ Shepard kept running, hoping EDI could bring the _Normandy _back in line before he hit the edge; he wasn't coming this close to lose now.

Ten metres to go and the _Normandy _was practically aligned again, EDI managing to match its fall.

But just as he reached the edge, as he began his leap towards the sanctuary of his ship, the base lurched backwards, tilting him away from his destination.

He found himself leaping towards a target that was now much further away than he had anticipated, the entire sequence feeling all too similar to what had happened on the Derelict Reaper. John slammed chest first into the lower lip of the _Normandy's_ airlock, and the fatigue and injuries really made themselves apparent as he struggled, and failed, to lift himself up.

He could here weapons fire from Garrus and Joker as they tried to suppress the Collectors firing on them when two strong three fingered hands grabbed him under his arms and pulled him into the airlock. Garrus slammed the door shut once they were all inside and the subtle shift in inertia told Shepard that EDI had already begun to move the ship away from the base. The airlock cycled fully and hissed open as Joker hobbled back into the Cockpit, discarding his rifle quickly as he slipped back into his real element.

"Forty three seconds until we enter the Event Horizon. Also, the Main Fusion Core of the base is in the process of a critical meltdown, explosion imminent. 20 seconds, 19, 18-"

"Yeah, we get the gist of it EDI! Calculating course back to the Relay… Done!"

And with that, the _Normandy_ vanished into FTL.

The crew never saw the Collector Base explode violently as its core overloaded.

Nor as the remnants of the Collector Ship were swallowed by the blast, or as the some chunks of debris were swallowed up by the black hole, destroyed in their entirety.

They also didn't see the other sections of the base that were forced clear by the blast, left to float in the accretion disk.

They did, however, see their Commander smiling triumphantly, even as he limped into the Med-Bay, cradling his Quarian love carefully in his arms.

* * *

**[AN: And there you have it, the final chapter of 'The Abyssal Maw'!**

**Thank you very much for reading it and I can only hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**A Special thanks to Matthew G Given, V-rcingetorix and kill-phil for there consistent and extremely helpful feedback, this story is much better for your various inputs.**

**As usual, any and all feedback on this story is hugely appreciated, and if nothing else, I thank you for taking the time to read it.**

**Thanks again, and expect to see the epilogue to this show up in 'Friendship to Last', once I get back to writing chapters for it. /AN]**


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